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Hiotographic 

Sdences 

Corporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  STRUT 

WnSTH.N.Y.  I4SM 

(716)t72-4S03 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/iCIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquas 


Tha  Instituta  has  anamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibiiographicaily  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction.  or  which  may  significantly  chbnua 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


D 


D 


D 
D 

D 
D 

D 


D 


Colourad  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I      I    Covars  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommag^a 


Covars  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  rastauria  at/ou  palliculAa 


I      I   Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


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Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
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Bound  with  other  material/ 
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Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

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distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intArieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
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II  se  peut  que  certainas  pages  blanches  aJout6es 
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mais.  iorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  it6  filmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithoda  normale  de  f ilmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


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Les  pages  totalement  ou  partieliement 
obscurcies  par  un  fauillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


/ 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  filmad  h«r«  has  b««n  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

University  of  Sasicatchawan 
Sasicatoon 


L'axamplaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
gin4rosit4  da: 

University  of  Sasicatchawan 
Saskatoon 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
posslbia  considaring  tha  condition  and  laglblllty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  In  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacif Ications. 


Laa  Imagas  sulvantaa  ont  it*  raprodultas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattati  da  l'axamplaira  fllmi,  at  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
fllmaga. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covara  ara  fllmad 
baglnning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  impras- 
slon,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  fllmad  baglnning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  Impraa- 
alon,  and  anding  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  llluatratad  imprasslon. 


Laa  axamplalraa  orlginaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  aat  imprlmia  aont  filmte  an  commandant 
par  la  pramlar  plat  at  an  tarmlnant  soit  par  ia 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'lllustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Toua  laa  autraa  axamplalraa 
orlginaux  sont  filmis  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'impraasion  ou  d'lllustration  at  an  tarmlnant  par 
la  darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microflcha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — <»■  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  ▼  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appllaa. 


Un  daa  symbolaa  sulvants  apparaftra  sur  la 
darnlAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microflcha,  salon  ia 
caa:  la  symbols  — *>  signifia  "A  SUIVRE",  la 
symbols  V  algnifia  "FIN". 


Mapa,  platas,  charts,  ate,  may  ba  fllmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antlraly  inciudad  in  ona  axposura  ara  fllmad 
baglnning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framas  aa 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrama  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


Laa  cartas,  planchas,  tablaaux.  ate,  pauvant  Atra 
fllmia  A  daa  taux  da  rMuctlon  diffirants. 
Lorsqua  ia  documant  aat  trap  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  clichi,  11  aat  f  llmi  A  partir 
da  I'angia  supirlaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  A  drolta, 
at  da  haut  9n  baa,  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nicaasaira.  Laa  diagrammas  sulvants 
illustrant  ia  mithoda. 


h    , 

t 

9 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

PUBLI! 


i 


€n0lanti  anb  ^Hmetica* 


n 


A  LECTURE 


BEAD   BEFOBB 


THE  BOSTON  FRATERNITY, 


AND 


PUBLISHED  ^IN  THE  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY  FOR  DECEMBER,  1864. 


BY 


GOLDWIN  SMITH. 


// 


^/0^^T^^, 


„i|prC  \K 


■  «£«.^4.  JC  ' 


S^u>y//  ^-4. 


■JfUj^i 


BOSTON: 
TICKNOR   AND   FIELDS. 

1865. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18G3,  by 

TicKNOR  AN-n  Fields, 

in  tlio  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  tlie  District  of  Massachusetts. 


nivEusiDE,  cambbidoe: 

rniNTEl)    BY    U.   O.   IIOUOIITON    AND    COMPANY. 


My  11 

Yc 

"  Enj 

and  1 

la 

pear 

lieari 

ously 

betw( 

objec 

with 

Tl 

tics, 

macl( 

spok 

forei 

tryt 

Geo 

had 

whic 

com 
com 
the 
1 
erni 
nati 


PREFATORY. 


New  York,  Dec.  5,  1864. 
My  dear  Mr.  Loring. 

You  purpose  to  republish  in  a  pamphlet  form  my  Lecture  on 
*'  England  and  America,"  delivered  before  the  Boston  Fraternity 
and  published  in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly." 

I  am  very  glad  that  a  Lecture  of  mine  on  this  subject  should  ap- 
pear under  your  auspices,  because  you  are  (as  I  hope  I  am  also) 
heartily  loyal  to  your  own  country,  for  whose  rights  you  have  vigor- 
ously pleaded,  as  well  as  sincerely  desirous  of  promoting  good-will 
between  the  two  branches  of  our  race.  Nothin'j  in  the  least  degree 
objectionable  on  the  score  of  want  of  loyalty  would,  I  am  sure,  meet 
with  your  approbation  or  be  commended  to  the  public  by  you. 

There  is  nothing  I  believe  in  tbe  Lecture  relating  to  English  poli- 
tics, or  to  the  internal  condition  of  England,  which  has  not  been 
made  known  to  the  whole  world  by  the  English  press.  Yet  I  have 
spoken  of  English  affairs  more  freely  than  I  should  have  done  in  a 
foreign  country.  But  I  cannot  regard  America  as  a  foreign  coun- 
try to  an  Englishman.  I  could  never  think  that  the  quarrel  between 
George  IIL  and  the  Colonies  (in  which  the  English  people  really 
had  no  share)  had  cancelled  the  tie  of  blood  or  the  many  other  ties 
which  bind  the  two  Englands  to  each  other. 

No  Englishman  feeling  the  effect  of  American  events  since  the 
commencement  of  your  civil  war  on  the  political  state  of  his  own 
country  can  doubt  that  a  most  intimate  connection  exists  between 
the  interests  and  destinies  of  the  two  nations. 

I  have  avoided  all  questions  between  the  two  Executive  Gov- 
ernments, limiting  my  remarks  to  the  state  of  feeling  between  the 
nations. 


PREFATORY. 


Scarcely  enough  stress  perhaps  is  laid  in  the  Lecture  on  the  ex- 
cuse afforded  to  Englishmen  and  to  the  world  generally  for  desiring 
the  disruption  of  tlie  Union  by  the  spirit  which  former  American 
Governments  have  manifested  in  their  bearing  towards  other  na- 
tions. A  power,  however  great,  which  is  guided  by  morality  and 
honor,  affords  no  just  ground  of  apprehension  to  its  neighbors. 
But  a  power  so  vast  as  tliat  of  America  is  evidently  destined  to  be, 
guided  by  the  tyrannical  and  aggressive  spirit  of  the  slave-owner, 
might  well  be  regarded  with  apprehension ;  and  other  nations  might, 
without  criminal  jealousy,  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  its  disruption. 

When  the  Lecture  appeared  in  the  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  an  excep- 
tion was,  perhaps  not  unreasonably,  taken  to  its  form,  as  being  too 
didactic.  But  I  need  scarcely  say  that  this  form  is  common  to  all 
lectures,  and  implies  no  peculiar  attitude  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the 

writer. 

I  am,  my  dear  Mr.  Loring, 

Ycry  sincerely  and  gratefully  yours, 

GOLDWIN  SMITIL 

The  Hon.  Charles  G.  Loring. 


m  the  ex- 

r  desiring 

American 

other  na- 

rality  and 

leighbors. 

ned  to  be, 

ve-owner, 

}ns  might, 

ruption. 

an  excep- 

being  too 

mon  to  all 

lart  of  the 


MITII. 


VVt' 


ENGLAND   AND  AMERICA.  ^ 


I  CA^iE  to  America  to  see  and  hear,  not  to  lecture. 
But  when  I  was  invited  by  the  Boston  "Fraternity" 
to  lecture  in  their  course,  and  permitted  to  take  the 
relations  between  England  and  America  as  my  sub- 
ject, 1  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline  the  invitation. 
England  is  my  country.  To  America,  though  an 
alien  by  birth,  I  am,  as  an  English  Liberal,  no  alien 
in  heart.  I  deeply  sliare  the  desire  of  all  my  politi- 
cal friends  in  England  and  of  the  leaders  of  my  party 
to  banish  ill-feeling  and  promote  good-will  between 
the  two  kindred  nations.  My  heart  would  be  cold, 
if  that  desire  were  not  increased  by  the  welcome 
which  I  have  met  with  here.  More  than  once,  when 
called  upon  to  speak,  (a  task  little  suit^  d  to  my  hab- 
its and  powers,)  1  have  tried  to  make  it  understood 
that  the  feelings  of  England  as  a  nation  towards  you 
in  your  great  struggle  had  not  been  truly  represented 
by  a  portion  of  our  press.  Some  of  my  present  hear- 
ers may,  perhaps,  have  seen  very  imperfect  reports 
of  those  speeches.  I  hope  to  say  what  I  have  to  say 
with  a  little  more  clearness  now. 

There  was  between  England  and  America  the 
memory  of  ancient  quarrels,  which  your  national 


6 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


pride  did  not  .sufier  to  sleep,  and  -vvhich  sometimes 
galled  a  haughty  nation  little  patient  of  defeat.  In 
more  recent  times  there  had  heen  a  numher  of  dis- 
putes, the  more  angr>'  hecause  they  were  hetwcen 
brethren.  There  had  been  disputes  about  bounda- 
ries, in  -which  England  believed  herself  to  have  been 
overreached  by  your  negotiators,  or,  what  was  still 
more  irritating,  to  have  l)een  overborne  because  her 
main  power  was  not  here.  There  had  been  disputes 
about  the  Right  of  Search,  in  which  we  had  to  taste 
the  bitterness,  now  not  unknown  to  you,  of  those 
whose  sincerity  in  a  good  cause  is  doubted,  when,  in 
fact,  they  are  perfectly  sincere.  You  had  alarmed 
and  exasperated  us  by  your  Ostend  manifesto  and 
your  scheme  for  the  annexation  of  Cuba.  In  these 
discussions  some  of  your  statesmen  had  shown  to- 
wards us  the  spirit  which  Slavery  does  not  fail  to 
engender  in  the  domestic  tyrant ;  while,  perhaps, 
some  of  our  statesmen  had  been  too  ready  to  pre- 
sume bad  intentions  and  anticipate  wrong.  In  our 
war  with  Russia  your  sympathies  had  been,  as  we 
supposed,  strongly  on  the  Russian  side ;  and  we  — 
even  those  among  us  who  least  approved  the  war  — 
had  been  scandalized  at  seeing  the  American  Repub- 
lic in  the  arms  of  a  despotism  which  had  just  crushed 
Hungary,  and  which  stood  avowed  as  the  arch-enemy 
of  liberty  in  Europe.  In  the  course  of  that  war  an 
English  envoy  committed  a  fault  by  being  privy  to 
recruiting  in  your  territories.  The  fault  was  ac- 
knowledged ;  but  the  matter  was  pressed  by  your 
Government  in  a  temper  which  we  thought  showed 
a  desire  to  humiliate,  and  a  want  of  that  readiness 


i 


I 


■^ 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


metimcs 
bat.     In 
r  of  din- 
botween 
bounda- 
ive  been 
was  still 
aiise  her 
disputes 
to  taste 
of  those 
Avhcn,  in 
alarmed 
esto  and 
In  these 
bown  to- 
^t  fail  to 
perhaps, 
y  to  p  re- 
in our 
3n,  as  we 
id  we  — 
le  war  — 
1  Repub- 
b  crushed 
;h-enemy 
t  war  an 
privy  to 
was   ac- 
hy your 
.  showed 
readiness 


to  accept  satisfaction,  when  frankly  tendered,  which 
renders  the  rejiaration  of  an  unintentional  offence 
easy  and  jjalnless  between  men  of  honor.  These 
wounds  had  been  inflamed  by  the  unfriendly  crit- 
icism of  English  writers,  who  visited  a  new  country 
without  the  spirit  of  philosophic  inquiry,  and  who  in 
collecting  materials  for  the  amusement  of  their  coun- 
trymen sometimes  showed  themselves  a  little  want- 
ing in  regard  for  the  laws  of  lios])itality,  as  well  as  in 
penetration  and  in  largeness  of  view. 

Yet  beneath  this  outward  estrangement  there  lay, 
in  the  heart  of  England  at  least,  a  deeper  feeling,  an 
appeal  to  which  was  never  unwelcome,  even  in  quar- 
ters where  the  love  of  American  institutions  least 
prevailed.  1  will  venture  to  repeat  some  words  from 
a  lecture  addressed  a  short  time  before  this  war  to 
the  University  of  Oxford,  which  at  that  time  had 
among  its  students  an  English  Prince.  "  The  loss  of 
the  American  Colonies,"  said  the  lecturer,  speaking 
of  your  hrst  lievolution,  "  was  perhaps  in  itself  a  gain 
to  both  countries.  It  was  a  gain,  as  it  emancijjated 
commerce  and  gave  free  coarse  to  those  reciprocal 
streams  of  wealth  which  a  restrictive  policy  had  forbid- 
den to  flow.  It  was  a  gain,  as  it  put  an  end  to  an  ob- 
solete tutelage,  which  tended  to  prevent  America  from 
learning  betimes  to  walk  alone,  while  it  gave  Eng- 
land the  puerile  and  somewhat  dangerous  pleasure  of 
reigning  over  those  whom  she  did  not  and  could  not 
govern,  but  whom  she  was  tempted  to  harass  and 
insult.  A  source  of  military  strength  colonies  can 
scarcely  be.  You  prevent  them  from  forming  proper 
military  establishments  of  their  own,  and  you  drag 


8 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


I 


them  into  your  quarrels  at  the  price  of  undertaking 
their  tleience.  The  inaiijjfunitlon  of  free  trade  was  in 
faet  the  renuneiation  of  the  only  solid  ohjcct  for  which 
our  ancestors  clun«^  to  an  invidious  and  perilous 
supremacy,  and  exposed  the  heart  of  England  by 
scattering  her  fleet  and  armies  over  the  globe.  It 
was  not  the  loss  of  the  Colonies,  but  the  quarrel,  that 
"was  one  of  the  greatest,  perhaps  the  greatest  disaster 
that  ever  befell  the  English  race.  Who  would  not 
give  up  Blenheim  and  Waterloo,  if  only  the  two 
Englands  could  have  jiarted  from  each  other  in  kind- 
ness and  in  peace,  —  if  our  statesmen  could  have  had 
the  wisdom  to  say  to  the  Americans  generously  and 
at  the  right  season,  'You  are  Englishmen,  like  our- 
selves ;  be,  for  your  own  hn})piness  and  for  our  honor, 
like  ourselves,  a  nation '  ?  ]Jut  English  statesmen, 
with  all  their  greatness,  have  seldom  known  how  to 
anticipate  necessity  ;  too  often  the  sentence  of  his- 
tory on  their  policy  has  been,  that  it  was  wise,  just, 
and  generous,  but  too  late.  Too  often  have  they 
waited  for  the  teaching  of  disaster.  Time  will  heal 
this,  like  other  wounds.  In  signing  away  his  own 
empire,  George  III.  did  not  sign  away  the  empire  of 
English  liberty,  of  English  law,  of  English  literature, 
of  English  religion,  of  English  blood,  or  of  the  English 
tongue.  But  though  the  wound  will  heal, —  and 
that  it  may  heal  ought  to  be  the  earnest  desire  of 
the  whole  English  name,  —  history  can  never  cancel 
the  fatal  page  which  robs  England  of  half  the  glory 
and  half  the  happiness  of  being  the  mother  of  a  great 
nation."  Such,  I  say,  was  the  language  addressed  to 
Oxford  in  the  liiU  confidence  that  it  would  be  well 
received. 


I 


ENC.LAND  AND  AMERICA. 


9 


jrtnking 


c  wnn  ill 
)r  Avliicli 
pLM'ilous 
land   by 
obo.     It 
•rel,  that 
disa.stcr 
Duld  not 
the  two 
in  kind- 
Kive  had 
iisly  and 
like  our- 
ir  honor, 
atcsnien, 
1  how  to 
e  of  his- 
.'ise,  just, 
ve  tliey 
»vill  Ileal 
his  own 
mpire  of 
terature, 
English 
il, —  and 
Jesire  of 
ir  cancel 
lie  glory 
'  a  great 
essed  to 
be  well 


And  now  all  these  clouds  seemed  to  have  fairly 
passed  away.  Your  reception  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  the  heir  and  representative  of  George  III., 
was  a  perfect  pledge  of  reconciliation.  It  showed 
that  ])eiieath  a  surface  of  estrangement  there  still 
remained  the  strong  tie  of  blood.  Englishmen  who 
loved  the  New  England  as  well  as  the  Old  were  for 
the  moment  happy  in  the  belief  that  the  two  were 
one  again.  And,  believe  me,  joy  at  this  complete 
renewal  of  our  amity  was  very  deeply  and  widely 
felt  in  England.  It  spread  far  even  among  the  classes 
which  have  shown  the  greatest  want  of  sympathy  for 
you  in  the  present  war. 

England  has  diplomatic  connections  —  she  has 
sometimes  diplomatic  intrigues  —  with  the  great 
powers  of  Europe.  For  a  real  alliance  she  must  look 
here.  Stiong  as  is  the  element  of  aristocracy  in  her 
Government,  there  is  that  in  her,  nevertheless,  which 
makes  her  cordial  understandings  with  military  des- 
potisms little  better  than  smothered  hate.  With  you 
she  may  have  a  league  of  the  heart.  We  are  united 
by  blood.  We  are  united  by  a  common  allegiance 
to  the  cause  of  freedom.  You  may  think  that  Eng- 
lish freedom  falls  far  short  of  yours.  You  will  allow 
that  it  goes  beyond  any  yet  attained  by  the  great 
European  nations,  and  that  to  those  nations  it  has 
been  and  still  is  a  light  of  hope.  I  see  it  treated 
with  contempt  here.  It  is  not  treated  with  contempt 
by  Garibaldi.  It  is  not  treated  with  contempt  by 
the  exiles  from  French  despotism,  who  are  proud  to 
learn  the  English  tongue,  and  who  find  in  our  land, 
as  they  think,  the  great  asylum  of  the  free.     Let 


10 


ENGLAND  x\ND  AMERICA. 


England  and  America  quarrel.  Let  your  weight  be 
cast  into  the  scale  against  lis,  when  we  struggle  with 
the  great  conspiracy  of  absolutist  powers  around 
us,  and  the  hope  of  freedom  in  Europe  would  be  al- 
most quenched.  Hampden  and  Washington  in  arms 
against  each  other !  What  could  the  Powers  of 
Evil  desire  more  ?  When  Americans  talk  lightly  of 
a  war  with  England,  one  desires  to  ask  them  what 
they  believe  the  effects  of  such  a  war  would  be  on 
their  own  country.  How  many  more  American 
wives  do  they  wish  to  make  widows  ?  How  many 
more  American  children  do  they  wish  to  make  or- 
phans ?  Do  they  deem  it  wise  to  put  a  still  greater 
strain  on  the  already  groaning  timbers  of  the  Con- 
stitution ?  Do  they  think  that  the  suspension  of 
trade  and  emigration,  with  the  price  of  labor  rising 
and  the  harvests  of  Illinois  excluded  from  their  mar- 
ket, would  help  you  to  cope  with  the  financial  diffi- 
culties which  fill  with  anxiety  every  reflecting  mind  ? 
Do  they  think  that  four  more  years  of  war-govern- 
ment would  render  easy  the  tremendous  work  of 
reconstruction  ?  But  the  interests  of  the  great  com- 
munity of  nations  are  above  the  private  interests  of 
America  or  of  England.  U  war  were  to  break  out 
between  us,  what  would  become  of  Italy,  abandoned 
without  help  to  her  Austrian  enemy  and  her  sinister 
protector  ?  What  would  become  of  the  last  hopes 
of  lil)erty  in  France  ?  What  would  become  of  the 
world  ? 

English  lil)erties,  imperfect  as  they  may  be,  —  and 
as  an  English  Liberal  of  course  thinks  they  are, — 
are  the  source  from  which  your  libertiec  have  flowed, 


M 


ENGLAND  AND  AJMERICA. 


11 


sight  be 
b^le  with 
around 
(1  be  al- 
in  «arms 
wers   of 
ghtly  of 
m  what 
Id  be  on 
merican 
>w  many 
nake  or- 
1  greater 
the  Con- 
jnsion  of 
or  rising 
leir  mar- 
cial  diffi- 
ig  mind  ? 
r-govern- 
work    of 
cat  com- 
erests  of 
re.'ik  out 
andoned 
r  sinister 
st  hopes 
e  of  the 

3,  —  and 
'i  are, — 
3  flowed, 


though  the  river  may  be  more  abundant  than  the 
spring.  Being  in  America,  I  am  in  England,  —  not 
only  because  American  hospitality  makes  me  feel 
that  1  am  still  in  my  own  country,  but  because  our 
institutions  are  fundamentally  the  same.  The  great 
foundations  of  constitutional  government,  legislative 
assemblies,  parliamentary  representation,  personal 
liberty,  self-taxation,  the  freedom  of  the  press,  alle- 
giance to  the  law  as  a  power  above  individual  will, 
—  all  these  were  established,  not  without  memorable 
efforts  and  memorable  sufferings,  in  the  land  from 
which  the  flithers  of  your  republic  came.  You  are 
living  under  the  Great  Charter,  the  Petition  of  Right, 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  the  Libel  Act.  Perhaps  you 
have  not  even  yet  taken  from  us  all  that,  if  a  kindly 
feeling  continues  between  us,  you  may  find  it  desira- 
ble to  take.  England  b}'^  her  eight  centuries  of  con- 
stitutional progress  has  done  a  great  work  for  you, 
and  the  two  nations  may  yet  have  a  great  work  to 
do  together  for  themselves  and  for  the  world.  A 
student  of  history,  knowing  how  the  race  has  strug- 
gled and  stumbled  onwards  through  the  ages  until 
now,  cannot  Ijclievc  in  the  finality  and  perfection  of 
any  set  of  institutions,  not  even  of  yours.  This  vast 
electioneering  apparatus,  with  its  strange  machinery 
and  discordant  sounds,  in  the  midst  of  which  I  find 
myself,  —  it  may  be,  and  I  firmly  believe  it  is,  better 
for  its  purpose  than  anything  that  has  gone  before 
it ;  but  is  it  the  crowning  effort  of  mankind  ?  If  our 
creed  —  the  Liberal  creed  —  l)e  true,  American  insti- 
tutions are  a  great  step  in  advance  of  the  Old  World ; 
but  they  are  not  a  miraculous  leap  into  a  political 


^' 


12 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


millennium.  They  are  a  momentous  portion  of 
that  continual  onward  effort  of  humanity  which  it  is 
the  highest  duty  of  history  to  trace ;  but  they  are 
not  its  final  consummation.  Model  Republic  !  How 
many  of  these  models  has  the  course  of  ages  seen 
broken  and  flung  disdainfully  aside !  You  have  been 
able  to  do  great  things  for  the  world  because  your 
forefathers  did  great  things  for  you.  The  generation 
will  come  which  in  its  turn  will  inherit  the  fruits  of 
your  efforts,  add  to  them  a  little  of  its  own,  and  in 
the  plenitude  of  its  self-esteem  repay  you  with  in- 
gratitude. The  time  will  come  when  the  memory 
of  the  Model  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  narrow  Parliamentary  Reformers 
of  England,  will  appeal  to  history,  not  in  vain,  to 
rescue  it  from  the  injustice  of  posterity,  and  extend 
to  it  the  charities  of  the  past. 

New-comers  among  the  nations,  you  desire,  like 
the  rest,  to  have  a  history.  You  seek  it  in  Indian 
annals,  you  seek  it  in  Northern  sagas.  You  fondly 
surround  an  old  windmill  with  the  pomp  of  Scandi- 
navian antiquity,  in  your  anxiety  to  fill  up  the  void 
of  your  unpeopled  past.  But  you  have  a  real  and 
glorious  history,  if  you  will  not  reject  it,  —  monu- 
ments genuine  and  majestic,  if  you  will  acknowledge 
them  as  your  own.  Yours  are  the  palaces  of  the 
Plantagenets,  —  the  cathedrals  which  enshrined  our 
old  religion,  —  the  illustrious  hall  in  which  the  long 
line  of  our  great  judges  reared,  by  their  decisions, 
the  fabric  of  our  law,  —  the  gray  colleges  in  which 
our  intellect  and  science  found  their  earliest  liome, 
—  the  graves  where  our  heroes  and  sages  and  poets 


ENGLAND  AND   AMERICA. 


13 


rtion   of 

lich  it  is 

they  are 

!    How 

ges  seen 

ave  been 

use  your 

neration 

fruits  of 

n,  and  in 

with  in- 

memory 

states,  as 

leforraers 

1  vain,  to 

id  extend 

isire,  like 
in  Indian 
»u  fondly 
f  Scandi- 
the  void 
real  and 
—  monu- 
lowledge 
js  of  the 
ined  our 
the  long 
lecisions, 
in  which 
st  home, 
[id  poets 


sleep.  It  would  as  ill  become  you  to  cultivate  nar- 
row national  memories  in  regard  to  the  past  as  it 
would  to  cultivate  narrow  national  prejudices  at 
present.  You  have  come  out,  as  from  other  relics  of 
barbarism  which  still  oppress  Europe,  so  from  the 
barbarism  of  jealous  nationality.  You  are  heirs  to 
all  the  wealth  of  the  Old  World,  and  must  owe  grati- 
tude for  a  part  of  your  heritage  to  Germany,  France, 
and  Spain,  as  well  as  to  England.  Still,  it  is  from 
England  that  you  are  sprung ;  frorri  her  you  brought 
the  power  of  self-government  which  was  the  talis- 
man of  colonization  and  the  pledge  of  your  empire 
here.  She  it  was,  that,  having  advanced  by  cen- 
turies of  effort  to  the  front  of  the  Old  World,  be- 
came worthy  to  give  birth  to  the  New.  From  Eng- 
land you  are  sprung  ;  and  it  is  because  you  are 
Englishmen  that  English  freedom,  not  French  or 
Spanish  despotism,  is  the  law  of  this  continent. 
From  England  you  are  sprung ;  and  if  the  choice 
were  given  you  among  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
which  would  you  rather  choose  for  a  mother  ?  : 

England  bore  you,  and  bore  you  not  without  a 
mother's  pangs.  For  the  real  hour  of  your  birth 
was  the  En  lish  Revolution  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, at  once  the  saddest  and  the  noblest  period  of 
English  history,  —  the  noblest,  whether  we  look  to 
the  greatness  of  the  principles  at  stake,  or  to  the 
grandeur  of  the  actors  who  fill  the  scene.  This  is 
not  the  official  version  of  vour  origin.  The  official 
version  makes  you  the  children  of  the  revolutionary 
Sf>irit  which  was  abroad  in  the  eighteenth  century 
and  culminated  in  the  French  Revolution.     But  this 


14 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


robs  you  of  a  century  and  a  half  of  antiquity,  and 
of  more  tliau  a  century  and  a  half  of  greatness. 
Since  1783  you  have  had  a  marvellous  growth  of 
population  and  of  wealth,  —  things  not  to  be  spoken 
of,  as  cynics  have  spoken  of  them,  without  thank- 
fulness, since  the  added  myriads  have  been  happy, 
and  the  wealth  has  llowed  not  to  a  few,  but  to  all. 

//  But  before  1783  you  had  founded,  under  the  name 
of  (ui  English  Colony,  a  community  emancipated 
from  feudalism  ;  you  had  abolished  here  and  doomed 
to  general  abolition  hereditary  aristocracy,  and  that 
which  is  the  essential  basis  of  hereditary  aristocracy, 
primogeniture  in  the  inheritance  of  land.  You  had 
established,  though  under  the  semblance  of  depend- 
ence on  the  English  crown,  a  virtual  sovereignty 
of  the  people.  You  had  created  the  system  of  com- 
mon schools,  in  which  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
has  its  only  safe  foundation.  You  had  proclaimed, 
after  some  misa:ivin<2:s  and  backslid  in  <j[:s,  the  doctrine 
of  liberty  of  conscience,  and  released  the  Church 
from  her  long  bondage  to  the  State.  All  this  you 
had  achieved  while  you  still  were,  and  gloried  in 
being,  a  colony  of  England.  You  have  done  great 
thhigs,  shice  your  quarrel  wath  George  III.,  for  the 
world  as  well  as  for  yourselves.     But  for  the  world, 

\     perhaps,  you  had  done  greater  things  before. 

In  Engltmd  the  Revolution  of  the  seventeenth 
century  failed.  It  failed,  at  least,  as  an  attempt  to 
establish  social  equ.ality  and  liljerty  of  conscience. 
The  feudal  past,  with  a  feudal  Europe  to  support  it, 
sat  too  heavy  on  us  to  be  cast  olf.  By  a  convulsive 
eflbrt  we  broke  loose,  for  a  moment,  from  the  hered- 


ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA. 


15 


iiity,  and 
ofreatness. 
rowtli  of 
)e  spoken 
lit  thank- 
n  happy, 
)ut  to  all. 
the  name 
ancipated 
d  doomed 
and  that 
'istocracy, 
You  had 
)f  depend- 
vercignty 
m  of  corn- 
he  people 
roclaimed, 
e  doctrine 
e  Church 
il  this  you 
gloried  in 
one  great 
[.,  for  the 
-he  world, 
e. 

venteenth 
ttempt  to 
onscience. 
upport  it, 
ionvulsive 
ihe  hered- 


itary aristocracy  and  the  h'orarchy.  For  a  moment 
we  placed  a  popular  chief  in  power,  though  Crom- 
well was  obliged  by  circumstances,  as  well  as  im- 
pelled by  his  own  ambition,  to  make  himself  a  king. 
13  ut  when  Cromwell  died  before  his  hour,  all  was 
over  for  many  a  day  with  the  party  of  religious  I'ree- 
dom  and  of  the  people.  The  nation  had  gone  a  little 
way  out  of  the  feudal  and  hierarchical  Egypt ;  but 
the  horrors  of  the  unknown  Wilderness,  and  the 
memory  of  the  fleshpots,  overpowered  the  hope  of  the 
Promised  Land  ;  and  the  people  returned  to  the  rule 
of  Pharaoh  and  his  priests  amidst  the  bonfires  of  the 
Restoration.  Something  had  been  gained.  Kings 
becjime  more  careful  how  they  cut  the  subject's 
purse  ;  bishops,  how  they  clipped  the  subject's  ears. 
Instend  of  being  carried  by  Laud  to  Kome,  we  re- 
mained Protestants  after  a  sort,  though  without  lib- 
erty of  conscience.  Our  Parliament,  such  as  it  was, 
with  a  narrow  franchise  and  rotten  boroughs,  retained 
its  rights ;  and  in  time  we  seciu^ed  the  independence 
of  the  judges  and  the  integrii^  of  an  aristocratic  law. 
But  the  great  attempt  had  miscarried.  English 
society  had  made  a  supreme  eflbrt  to  escape  from 
feudalism  and  the  hierarchy  into  social  justice  and 
religious  freedom,  and  that  eflbrt  had  failed. 

Failed  in  Euglaud,  but  succeeded  here.  The  yoke 
which  in  the  mother-country  we  had  not  strength  to 
thi'ow  off,  in  the  colony  we  escaped ;  and  here,  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  Eestoration,  Milton's  vision 
proved  true,  and  a  free  community  was  founded, 
though  in  a  hum])le  and  unsuspected  form,  which 
depended  on  the  life  of  no  single  chief,  and  lived  on 


16 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


when  Cromwell  died.  Milton,  when  the  night  of  the 
Restoration  closed  on  the  brief  and  stormy  day  of 
his  party,  bated  no  jot  of  hope.  He  was  strong  in 
that  strength  of  conviction  which  assures  spirits  like 
his  of  the  future,  however  dark  the  present  may 
appear.  But,  could  he  have  beheld  it,  the  morning, 
moving  westward  in  the  track  of  the  Puritan  emi- 
grants, had  passed  from  his  hemisphere  only  to  shine 
again  in  this  with  no  fitful  ray,  but  with  a  steady 
brightness  which  will  one  day  reillumine  the  feudal 
darkness  of  the  Old  World. 

The  Revolution  failed  in  England.  Yet  in  England 
the  party  of  Cromwell  and  Milton  still  lives.  It  still 
lives  ;  and  in  this  great  crisis  of  your  fortunes,  its 
heart  turns  to  you.  On  your  success  ours  depends. 
Now,  as  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  thread  of 
our  late  is  twined  Avith  the  thread  of  yours.  An 
Englisli  Liberal  comes  here,  not  only  to  watch  the 
unfolding  of  vour  destinv,  but  to  read  his  own. 

Even  in  the  Revolution  of  1770  Liberal  Endand 
was  on  your  side.  Chatham  was  your  spokesman, 
as  well  as  Patrick  Henry.  We,  too,  reckon  Wash- 
ington among  our  heroes.  Perhaps  there  may  have 
been  an  excuse  even  for  the  King.  The  relation  of 
dependence  which  you  as  well  as  he  professed  to 
hold  sacred,  and  which  he  was  bound  to  maintain, 
had  long  become  obsolete.  It  was  time  to  break  the 
cord  which  held  the  child  to  its  mother ;  and  prob- 
ably there  were  some  on  your  side,  from  the  first, 
or  nearly  from  the  first,  resolved  to  break  it,  —  men 
instinct  with  the  revolutionary  spirit,  and  bent  on  a 
Republic.     All  parties  were  in  a  false  position  ;  and 


ENGLAND   AND  AMERICA, 


17 


ght  of  the 
iiy  day  of 

strong  in 
spirits  like 
3sent  may 
e  morning, 
iritan  emi- 
ly  to  shine 

a  steady 
the  feudal 

n  England 
is.  It  still 
)rtunes,  its 
s  depends, 
thread  of 
•ours.  An 
watch  the 
own. 

l1  England 
pokesman, 
:on  Wash- 
may  have 
relation  of 
ofessed  to 
maintain, 
break  the 
and  prob- 
i  the  first, 
it,  —  men 
bent  on  a 
tion  j  and 


they  could  find  no  way  out  of  it  better  than  civil 
war.  Good-will,  not  hatred,  is  the  law  of  the  world  ; 
and  seldom  can  history  —  even  the  history  of  the 
conqueror — look  back  on  the  results  of  war  without 
regret.  England,  scarcely  guilty  of  the  offence  of 
her  monarch,  drank  the  cup  of  shame  and  disaster 
to  the  dregs.  That  war  ruined  the  French  finances, 
which  till  then  might  have  been  retrieved,  past  the 
hope  of  redemption,  and  precij^itated  the  Revolution 
which  hurled  France  through  anarchy  into  despot- 
ism, and  sent  Lafayette  to  a  foreign  dungeon,  and 
his  master  to  the  block.  You  came  out  victorious  ; 
but,  from  the '  violence  of  the  rupture,  you  took  a 
political  bias  not  perhaps  entirely  for  good  ;  and  the 
necessity  of  the  war  blended  you,  under  equivocal 
conditions,  with  other  colonies  of  a  wholly  different 
origin  and  character,  which  then  "  held  persons  to 
service,"  and  are  now  your  half- dethroned  tyrant, 
the  Slave  Power.  This  P  evolution  will  lead  to  a 
revision  of  many  things,  —  perhaps  to  a  partial 
revision  of  your  history.  Meantime,  let  me  repeat, 
England  counts  Washington  among  her  heroes. 

And  now  as  to  the  conduct  of  England  towards 
you  in  this  civil  war.  It  is  of  want  of  sympathy,  if 
of  anything,  on  our  part,  not  of  want  of  interest,  that 
you  have  a  right  to  complain.  Never,  within  my 
memory,  have  the  hearts  of  Englishmen  been  so 
deeply  moved  by  any  foreign  struggle  as  by  this 
civil  war, —  not  even,  if  I  recollect  aright,  by  the 
great  European  earthquake  of  1848.  I  doubt  wheth- 
er they  were  more  moved  by  the  Indian  mutiny  or 
by  our  war  with  Russia.     It  seemed  that  history  had 

8 


■"<%ifl!. 


18 


EN(iLAND   AND   AMERICA. 


brought  round  again  the  groat  crisis  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  when  all  England  throbljed  witli  the 
mortal  struggle  waged  between  the  powers  of  Lib- 
erty and  Slavery  on  their  German  battle-field ;  for 
expectation  can  scarcely  have  been  more  intense 
when  Gustavus  and  Tilly  were  approaching  each 
other  at  Leipsic  than  it  was  when  Meade  and  Lee 
were  approaching  each  other  at  Gettysburg.  Sev- 
ered from  us  by  the  Atlantic,  while  other  nations  are 
at  our  door,  you  are  still  nearer  to  us  than  all  the 
world  beside. 

It  is  of  want  of  sympjithy,  not  of  want  of  interest, 
that  you  have  to  complain.  And  the  sympathy 
whicli  has  been  withheld  is  not  that  of  the  whole 
nation,  but  that  of  certain  classes,  chielly  of  the  class 
against  whose  political  interest  you  are  fighting,  and 
to  whom  your  victory  brings  eventual  defeat.  The 
real  origin  of  your  nation  is  the  key  to  the  present 
relations  between  you  and  the  different  parties  in 
England.  This  is  the  old  battle  waged  again  on  a 
new  field.  We  will  not  talk  too  much  of  Puritans 
and  Cavaliers.  The  soldiers  of  the  Union  are  not 
Puritans,  neither  are  the  planters  Cavaliers.  But  the 
present  civil  war  is  a  vast  episode  in  the  same  irre- 
pressible conflict  between  Aristocracy  and  Democ- 
racy; and  the  heirs  of  the  Cavalier  in  England 
sympathize  with  your  enemies,  the  heirs  of  the 
Puritan  with  you. 

The  feeling  of  our  aristocracy,  as  of  all  aristoc- 
racies, is  against  you.  It  does  not  follow,  nor  do  I 
believe,  that  as  a  body  they  would  desire  or  urge 
their   Government   to   do   you   a   wrong,  whatever 


ENGLAND   AND  AMERICA. 


19 


irg. 


10  Thirty 
witli  the 
rs  of  Lib- 
-field ;  for 
intense 
ling  each 
and  Lee 
Sev- 
ations  are 
m  all  the 

f  interest, 
sympathy 
the  whole 
f  the  class 
liting,  and 
i?at.  The 
le  present 
parties  in 
igain  on  a 
f  Puritans 
n  are  not 
;.  But  the 
same  irre- 
d  Democ- 
i  England 
rs   of  the 

ill  aristoc- 

,  nor  do  I 

e  or  urge 

whatever 


spirit  mny  be  shown  by  a  few  of  the  less  honorable 
or  more  violent  members  of  their  order.  With  all 
their  class-sentiments,  they  are  Englishmen,  trained 
to  w.'dk  in  the  paths  of  English  policy  and  justice. 
But  that  their  feelings  should  be  against  you  is  not 
strange.  You  are  fighting,  not  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Union,  not  for  the  emancipation  of  the  negro, 
but  for  Democracy  against  Aristocracy;  and  this 
iiict  is  thoi'oughly  understood  by  both  parties 
throughout  the  Old  World.  As  the  champions  of 
Democracy,  you  may  claim,  and  you  receive,  the 
sympathy  of  the  Democratic  party  in  England  and 
in  Europe  ;  that  of  the  Aristocratic  party  you  cannot 
(daim.  You  must  bear  it  calmly,  if  the  aristocracies 
mourn  over  your  victories  and  triumph  over  your 
defeats.  Do  the  friends  of  Democracy  conceal  their 
joy  when  a  despotism  or  an  oligarchy  bites  the  dust  ? 
The  members  of  our  aristocracy  bear  you  no  per- 
sonal hatred.  An  American  going  among  them  even 
now  meets  with  nothing  but  personal  courtesy  and 
kindness.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  they  are 
not  indifterent  to  your  good- will,  nor  unconscious  of 
the  tie  of  blood.  But  to  ask  them  entirely  to  forget 
their  order  woidd  be  too  much.  In  the  success  of  a 
commonwealth  founded  on  social  and  political  equal- 
ity all  aristocracies  must  read  their  doom.  Not  by 
arms,  but  hy  example,  you  are  a  standing  menace  to 
the  existence  of  political  privilege.  And  the  thread 
of  that  existence  is  frail.  Feudal  antiquity  holds  life 
by  a  precarious  tenure  amidst  the  revolutionary  ten- 
dencies of  this  modern  world.  It  has  gone  hard,  with 
the  aristocracies  throughout  Europe  o^lai;§  yeargj 


•w 


20 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


thouirli  ilio  FrcMieh  Emperor,  as  the  head  of  the 
Rciictioii.  may  create  a  mock  nobility  round  his  up- 
start throne.  Tiie  IJonian  aristocracy  was  an  aris- 
tocracy of  arms  and  law.  Tlie  leudal  aristocracy 
of  the  Middle  Ages  was  an  aristocracy  of  aniis 
and  in  some  measure  of  law  ;  it  served  the  cause 
of  political  progress  in  its  hour  and  after  its  kind  ; 
it  confronted  tyrannical  kings  when  the  people 
were  as  yet  too  weak  to  confront  them  ;  it  con- 
quered at  Runnymede,  as  well  as  at  Hastings. 
But  the  aristocracies  of  modern  Europe  are  aristoc- 
racies neither  of  arms  nor  of  law.  Thev  are  aris- 
tocracies  of  social  and  political  privileges  alone. 
They  owe,  and  arc  half  conscious  that  they  owe, 
their  present  existence  only  to  factitious  weaknesses 
of  human  nature,  and  to  the  antiquated  terrors  of 
communities  long  kept  m  leading-strings  and  afraid 
to  walk  alone.  If  there  were  nothing  but  reason  to 
dispel  them,  these  fears  might  long  retain  their  .sway 
over  European  society.  But  the  example  of  a  great 
commonwealth  flourishing  here  without  a  privileged 
class,  and  of  a  popular  sovereignty  combining  order 
with  progress,  tends,  however  remotely,  to  break  the 
ppell.  Therefore,  as  a  class,  the  English  nobility 
cannot  desire  the  success  of  your  Republic.  Some 
of  the  order  there  are  who  have  hearts  above  their 
coronets,  as  there  are  some  kings  who  have  hearts 
above  their  crowns,  and  who  in  this  great  crisis  of 
humanity  forget  that  they  are  noblemen,  and  re- 
meml)er  that  they  are  men.  But  the  order,  as  a 
whole,  has  been  against  you,  and  has  swayed  in  the 
same  direction  all  who  were  closely  connected  with 


KNGLAND   AND  AMERICA. 


21 


ad   of  the 
111(1  hi.s  up- 
as an  aris- 
aristocracy 
y  of  amis 
the  cause 
r  its  kind  ; 
the   people 
n  ;    it  con- 
:    Hastings, 
are  aristoc- 
-Vy  arc  aris- 
alone. 
they  owe, 
weaknesses 
terrors  of 
and  afraid 
it  reason  to 
their  swaj 
i  of  a  great 
L  privileged 
ning  order 
)  break  the 
■^h  nobility 
►lie.     Some 
ibovG  their 
lave  hearts 
[it  crisis  of 
n,  and  re- 
order, as  a 
yed  in  the 
ected  with 


it  or  dependent  on  it.  It  could  not  fjiil  to  bo  against 
you,  if  it  was  for  itself  Be  charitable  to  the  instinct 
of  selfpreservation.  It  is  strong,  sometimes  yiolcnt, 
in  us  all. 

Tn  truth,  it  is  rather  against  the  Liberals  of  Eng- 
land than  against  you  that  the  feeling  of  our  aristoc- 
racy is  directed.  Liberal  leaders  have  made  your 
name  odious  by  pointing  to  your  institutions  as  the 
condemnation  of  our  own.  They  did  this  too  indis- 
criminately  peihai)s,  while  in  one  respect  your  insti- 
tutions were  far  below  our  own,  inasmuch  as  you 
were  a  slaveholding  nation.  '•  Look,"  they  were 
always  saying,  "  at  the  Model  Republic,  —  behold  its 
unbroken  pio;"p«H-ity,  the  harmony  of  its  people 
under  the  sj'stem  of  univerpa)  sutfrage,  the  lightness 
of  its  taxation,  —  ])ehold,  above  all,  its  immunity 
from  war ! "  All  this  is  now  turned  upon  us  as  a 
taunt ;  but  the  taunt  implies  rather  a  sense  of  escape 
on  the  part  of  those  who  utter  it  than  malignity,  and 
the  answer  to  it  is  victory. 

What  lias  been  said  of  our  territorial  aristocracy 
may  be  said  of  our  commercial  aristocracy,  which  is 
fast  blending  with  the  territorial  into  a  government 
of  wealth.  This  again  is  nothing  new.  History  can 
point  to  more  cases  than  one  in  which  the  sym- 
pathies of  rich  men  have  been  regulated  by  their 
riches.  The  Money  Power  has  been  cold  to  your 
cause  throughout  Europe,  —  perhaps  even  here.  In 
all  countries  great  capitalists  are  apt  to  desire  that 
the  laborer  should  be  docile  and  contented,  that 
popular  education  should  not  be  carried  dangerously 
high,  that  the  right  relations  between  capital  and 


22 


ENGLAND   AND   AMKUU'A. 


labor  should  bo  maintained.  The  bold  doctrines  of 
till'  slavo-owncr  as  to  "  i'wv  labor  and  free  schools  " 
may  not  bo  aeeoptod  in  thoir  full  stiongth;  yet  they 
touch  a  socrot  chord.  IJut  wv  have  friends  of  the 
bettor  cause  amon^  our  Kuglish  capitalists  as  well  as 
anion*;  <»ur  Enujiish  ])eers.  The  names  of  Mr.  Baring 
and  INIr.  Thomas  IJayley  Potter  are  not  unknown 
here.  The  course  taken  by  such  men  at  this  crisis  is 
an  earnest  of  the  essential  iniity  of  interest  which 
underlies  all  class-divisions, —  which,  in  our  onward 
progress  toward  the  attahunent  of  a  real  community, 
will  survive  all  class-distinctions,  and  terminate  the 
confHct  between  capital  and  labor,  not  by  nudving 
the  laborer  the  slave  of  the  capitalist,  nor  the  capital- 
ist the  slave  of  the  laborer,  but  by  establishing  be- 
tween them  nuitual  good-will,  founded  on  intelli- 
gence and  justice. 

And  let  the  up])er  classes  of  England  have  their 
due.  The  Lancashire  operatives  have  been  upon  the 
other  side ;  yet  not  the  less  have  they  received 
ready  and  generous  help  in  their  distress  from  all 
ranks  and  orders  in  the  land. 

It  would  be  most  unworthy  of  a  student  of  history 
to  preach  vulgar  hatred  of  an  historic  aristocracy. 
The  aristocracy  of  England  has  been  great  in  its 
hour,  probably  beneficent,  perhaps  indispensable  to 
the  progress  of  our  nation,  and  so  to  the  foundation 
of  yours.  Do  you  wish  for  your  revenge  upon  it? 
The  road  to  that  revenge  is  sure.  Succeed  in  your 
great  experiment.  Show  by  your  example,  by  your 
moderation  and  self-control  through  this  war  and 
after  its  close,  that  it  is  possible  for  communities, 


ENOLANI)   AND   AMKUICA. 


23 


ctrincfl  of 
Hchools  " 
yet  tlioy 
[Is  of  tlio 
IS  well  us 
r.  Baring 
unknown 
is  crisis  is 
'st  which 
i"  onward 
nnuuiity, 
inate  the 
'  making 
e  capital- 
<hing  be- 
ll  intelli- 

ive  their 

upon  tlie 

received 

from  all 


»f 

stocracy. 
at  in  its 
isable  to 
undation 
upon  it? 
in  your 
by  your 
war  and 
nunities, 


duly  educated,  to  govern  themselves  without  the 
control  of  an  heiiditary  order.  The  progress  of 
opinion  in  Engl  md  will  In  lime  do  the  rest.  War, 
ibrced  by  you  upon  (he  English  nation,  would  only 
strengthen  the  woist  pait  of  the  English  aristocracy 
in  the  w'orst  way,  by  bringing  our  people  into  colli- 
sion with  a  Democracy,  and  by  giving  the  ascend- 
ancy, as  all  wars  not  carried  on  for  a  distinct  moral 
object  do,  to  military  passions  over  political  aspira- 
tions. Our  war  with  the  French  Kepublic  threw 
))ack  our  internal  reforms,  which  till  then  had  been 
advancing,  for  a  whole  generation.  Even  the  pock- 
ets of  our  land-owners  would  not  sufter,  but  gain,  by 
the  war ;  for  their  rents  would  be  raised  by  the  ex- 
clusion of  your  corn,  and  the  ]>rice  of  labor  would  be 
lowered  by  the  st()j)page  of  emigration.  The  sufler- 
ing  would  fall,  as  usual,  on  the  people. 

The  gradual  effect  of  your  example  may  enable 
European  society  linally  to  emerge  from  feudalism, 
in  a  peaceful  way,  without  violent  revolutions. 
Every  one  who  has  studied  history  must  regard 
violent  revolutions  with  abhorrence.  A  European 
Liberal  ought  to  be  less  inclined  to  them  than  ever, 
when  he  has  seen  America,  and  received  from  the 
sight,  as  I  think  he  may,  a  complete  assurance  of 
the  future. 

I  have  spoken  of  our  commercial  aristocracy  gen- 
erally. Liverpool  demands  a  word  by  itself.  It  is 
the  stronghold  of  the  Southern  party  in  England : 
from  it  hostile  acts  have  proceeded,  while  from  other 
quarters  there  have  proceeded  only  hostile  words. 
There  are  in  Liverpool  men  who  do  honor  to  the 


24 


ENGLAND   AND   AlMEllICA. 


name  of  British  incrcliaiit ;  Imt  tlio  oily  as  a  whole 
is  not  the  one  among  all  our  connnercial  cities  in 
which  moral  chivalry  is  most  likely  to  be  found.     In 
Manchester,  cotton-spinning  though  it  be,  there  is 
much  that  is  great,  —  a  love  of  Art,  displayed  in 
public  exhilutions.  —  a  keen  interest  in  great  polit- 
ical and  social  (juestions, —  literature,  —  even  relig- 
ious   thought,  —  something   of  that   high    aspiring 
spirit  Avliich  made  commerce  noble  in  the  old  Eng- 
lish merchant,  in  the  Venetian  and  the  Florentine. 
In  Liverpool  trade  reigns  supreme,  and  its  behests, 
whatever  they  may  be,  are  pretty  sure  to  be  eagerly 
obeyed.     And  the  sovirce  of  this  is  to  be  found,  per- 
haps,  partly   in   the   fact  that  Liverpool  is  an  old 
centre  of  the  Slavery  interest  in  England,  one  of  the 
cities  which  have  been  built  with  the  blood  of  the 
slave.     As  the  great  cotton  port,  it  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  planters  by  trade, —  perhaps  also 
bv  manv  personal  ties  and  associations.     It  is  not  so 
much  an  Englisli  city  as  an  offset  and  outpost  of  the 
South,  and  a  counterpart  to  the  oflsets  and  outj)osts 
of  the  South  in  some  of  your  great  connnercial  cities 
here.     No  doubt,  the  shame  of  Liverpool  Alabamas 
falls  on  England.     EngUind  must  own  that  she  has 
produced  merchants  who  disgrace  their  calling,  con- 
taminated hy  intercourse  with  the  slave-owner,  re- 
gjirdless  of  the  iionor  and  interest  of  their  country, 
ready  to  plunge  two  kindred  nations  into  a  desolat- 
ing wai.  '.'  they  can  only  secure  the  profits  of  their 
own  trad(!.     England  must  own   that  she  has   pro- 
duced such  men  ;  but  does  this  disgrace  attach  to 
her  alone  ? 


Yl\C\ 


ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA. 


25 


^  a  whole 
cities  in 
unci.     In 
there  is 
hiyed  in 
cat  polit- 
I'en  relig- 
aspiring 
old  Eng- 
orentine. 
behests, 
13  eagerly 
und,  per- 
is an  old 
lie  of  the 
td  of  the 
■^iily  con- 
laps  also 
is  not  so 
ist  of  the 
outj)osts 
^ial  cities 
Vlabamas 
J  she  has 
ling,  con- 
wner,  re- 
country, 
I  desolat- 
of  their 
lias  pro- 
Lttach  to 


The  clergy  of  tlie  State  Church,  like  the  aristoc- 
racy, have  probably  been  as  a  body  against  3'ou  in 
this  struiTii'le,  In  their  case  too,  not  hatred  of  Amcr- 
ica,  but  the  love  of  their  own  institution,  is  the 
cause.  If  you  are  a  standing  menace  to  aristoc- 
racies, you  are  equally  a  standing  menace  to  State 
Churches.  A  State  Church  rests  upon  the  assumption 
that  I'eligiou  would  fall,  if  it  were  not  supported  by 
the  State.  On  this  ground  it  is  that  the  European 
nations  endure  the  startliu<2;  anomalies  of  their  State 
Churches,  -  the  interference  of  irreligious  politicians 
in  religion,  the  worldliness  of  ambitious  ecclesiastics, 
the  denial  of  liberty  of  conscience,  the  denial  of 
truth.  Therefore  it  is  that  they  -will  see  the  canker 
of  doubt  slowl}'  eating  into  faith  beneath  the  out- 
ward uuilbrmity  of  a  political  Church,  rather  than 
risk  a  change,  which,  as  they  are  taught  to  believe. 
Mould  bring  faith  to  a,  sudden  end.  But  the  success 
of  the  voliuitary  system  here  is  overthrowing  this 
assum[)tion.  Shall  1  l)elieve  that  Christianity  de- 
prived of  State  support  must  fall,  when  I  see  it  with- 
out State  support  not  only  staiuling,  but  advancing 
with  the  settler  iuto  the  remotest  West  ?  Will  the 
biity  (jf  Eur()p(>  long  remain  under  their  illusion  in 
i'acc  of  this  irreat  fact  ?  Alreadv  the  State  Churches 
of  JMU'ope  are  placed  in  imminent  peril  by  the  con- 
troversies which,  since  reliuious  life  has  reawakened 
among  us,  rend  them  from  within,  and  by  their 
manifest  inabilit}^  to  satisfy  the  craving  of  society 
Jbr  new  assuraiu'e  of  its  faith.  I  cannot  much  blame 
the  lligh-Churcli  bishop  who  goes  to  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  to  ask  for  intervention  in  company  with  Lord 


26 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


Clnnricardc  and  Mr.  S[)cricc.  You  express  surprise 
that  the  .^un  of  Wilherforce  is  not  Avith  you;  but 
"Wiiberlorce  was  not.  like  his  son,  a  bishop  of  the 
State  Chiuvh.  Never  in  tiie  whole  course  of  history 
has  the  old  order  ol'  thin(i;s  yielded  without  a  murmur 
to  the  new.  Vou  share  the  fate  of  all  innovators : 
your  innovations  are  not  received  with  favor  by  the 
jiowcrs  which  they  threaten  ultimately  to  sweep 
away. 

To  come  from  our  aiistocracv  and  landed  irentry 
to  our  middle  class.  We  subdivide  tlie  middle  class 
into  up])er  and  lower,  'fhc  u])per  middle  class,  com- 
prising the  wealthier  tradesnu'U,  forms  a  sort  of 
minor  aristocracy  in  itself,  with  a  good  deal  (f  aris- 
tocratic feeling  towards  ihose  beneath  it.  It  is  not 
Weil  educated,  ibr  it  will  not  go  to  the  connnon 
schools,  and  it  has  few  good  private  schools  of  its 
own  ;  consecjuently,  it  does  not  think  deeply  on 
great  political  questions.  It  is  at  present  very 
wealthy;  and  wealth,  as  you  know,  does  not  always 
produce  high  moral  sentiment.  Jt  is  not  above  a 
desire  to  l)e  on  the  genteel  side.  It  is  not  free  from 
the  worship  of  Aristocracy.  That  worship  is  rooted 
in  the  lower  part  of  our  common  nature.  Its  libres 
extend  beyond  the  soil  of  England,  beyond  the  soil 
of  Euro|)e.  America  has  been  much  belied,  if  she 
is  entirely  free  from  this  evil,  if  there  are  not  here 
also  men  careful  of  class-distinctions,  of  a  place  in 
fashionable  society,  of  factitious  rank  which  parodies 
the  aristocracy  of  the  Old  World.  There  is  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  character  a  strange  mixture  of  inde- 
pendence and  servility.     In  that  long  course  of  con- 


00i': 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


27 


s  surprise 
you ;  but 
op  of  the 
of  history 
Ji  murmur 
uiovator.s  : 
or  )jy  tlio 
to  sweep 

ed  gentry 

iddle  class 

class,  com- 

a  sort  of 

Mill  (i'aiis- 

It  is  not 

common 

ools  of  its 

deeply   on 

sent   vei-y 

lot  ahvnys 

« 

t  above   a 

free  from 

'  is  rooted 

Its  libres 

d  the  soil 

ed.  if  she 

i  not  here 

I-  place  in 

1  parodies 

is  in   the 

-3  of  inde- 

'se  of  con- 


cessions b}^  ■\vhicli  your  politicians  strove  —  happily 
for  the  world  and  for  yourselves  thev  strove  in 
vain  —  to  conciliate  the  slave-owninf^  aristocracy 
of  the  .South,  did  not  something  of  social  servility 
mingle  with  political  fear  ? 

In  the  lower  middle  class  religious  Non-Conformity 
prevails  ;  and  the  Free  Churches  of  our  Non-Con- 
formists are  united  by  a  strong  bond  of  sympathy 
with  the  Churches  under  the  vtduntary  system  hero. 
They  two.  perfectly  stanch  on  the  subject  of  Slavery, 
and  so  far  as  this  war  has  been  a  struirglc  against 
that  institution,  it  may,  I  think,  be  conlidently  said 
that  the  hearts  of  this  great  section  of  our  people 
have  been  upon  your  side.  Our  Non-Conformist 
ministers  came  forward,  as  you  are  aware,  in  large 
numbers,  to  join  with  the  ministers  of  Protestant 
Churches  on  the  Continent  in  an  Anti-Slavery  ad- 
diess  to  your  Government  and  people. 

And  as  to  the  middle  classes  generally,  upper  or 
lower,  1  see  no  reason  to  think  that  they  are  want- 
inu'  in  irood-will  to  this  country,  much  less  that 
thev  desire  tliat  any  calamitv  should  befall  it.  The 
jouiiials  which  I  take  to  be  the  chief  organs  of  the 
uppei-  iniddl(3  class,  if  they  have  not  been  friendly, 
have  been  hostile  not  so  much  to  the  American 
peo|)le  as  to  the  war.  And  in  justice  to  all  classes 
of  Englishmen,  it  must  be  remend^ered  that  hatred 
of  the  war  is  not  hatred  of  the  American  people. 
No  one  hated  the  war  at  its  commencement  more 
heartily  than  I  did,  I  hated  it  more  heartily  than 
ever  after  Bull  Kun,  when,  by  the  accounts  which 
reached  England,  the  character  of  this  nation  seemed 


■m 


im. 


28 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


to  have  completely  broken  down.  I  believed  as 
fully  !»s  any  one,  that,  the  task  ^^•hich  you  had  un- 
dertaken was  hopeless,  and  that  you  were  rushing 
on  your  ruin.  I  dreaded  the  ellect  on  your  Consti- 
tution, Tearing,  as  others  did,  that  civil  war  ^vould 
bring  you  to  anarchy,  and  anarchy  to  military  des- 
potism. All  historical  precedents  consjnred  to  lead 
me  to  this  belief.  1  did  not  know  —  for  there  was 
no  example  to  teach  me  —  the  power  of  a  really 
united  people,  the  adauiantine  strength  of  institu- 
tions which  were  truly  iree.  Watching  the  course 
of  events  with  an  open  mind,  and  a  deep  interest, 
such  as  men  at  a  distance  can  seldom  be  brout^ht 
to  feel,  in  the  fortunes  of  this  country,  I  soon  revised 
my  opinion.  Yet,  many  times  I  desponded,  and 
Avished  with  all  my  heart  that  you  would  save  the 
Border  States,  if  you  could,  and  let  the  rest  go. 
Numbers  of  Englishmen,  —  Englishmen  of  all  classes 
and  parties,  —  who  thought  as  1  did  at  the  outset, 
remain  rooted  in  this  opinion.  They  still  sincerely 
believe  that  this  is  a  hopeless  war,  wh!  ;h  can  lead 
to  nothing  Init  waste  of  blood,  sul)version  of  your 
laws  and  liberties,  and  the  destruction  of  your  own 
prosperity  and  that  of  the  nations  whose  interests 
are  ))ound  up  with  vours.  This  belief  thev  main- 
tain  with  as  little  of  ill-feeling  towards  j'ou  as  men 
can  have  towards  those  who  obstinately  disreicard 
their  advice.  And,  after  all,  thouL!;h  vou  may  have 
found  the  wisest  as  well  as  the  bravest  counsellors 
in  your  own  hearts,  he  need  not  be  your  enemy 
who   somewhat   timidly    counsels  you   against   civil 


war.     Civil  war  is  a  terrible  th 


ing; 


terrible  in  the 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


29 


icvcfl  as 

had  iin- 

riisliiiio; 

r  Consti- 

ir  ^vollld 

taiy  clos- 

1  to  lead 

icre  was 

a  rcallv 

f  institu- 

ic  course 

interest, 

broudit 

n  revised 

ded,   and 

save  the 

rest  go. 

ill  classes 

le  outset, 

sincerely 

can  lead 

I  of  your 

^our  own 

interests 

ev  main- 

.1  as  men 

disregard 

iiav  have 

mnsellors 

ir  enemy 

inst    civil 

le  in  the 


passions  which  it  kindles,  as  well  as  in  the  blood 
which  it  sheds,  —  terrible  in  its  present  eflbcts,  and 
terrible  in  those  which  it  leaves  behind.  It  can  bo 
justified  only  by  the  complete  victory  of  the  good 
cause.  And  Englishmen,  at  the  connnencement  of 
this  civil  war,  if  they  were  wrong  in  thinking  the 
victory  of  the  good  cause  hopeless,  were  not  wrong 
in  thinking  it  remote.  They  wore  not  wrong  in 
thinking  it  far  more  remote  than  vou  did.  Years 
of  struggle,  of  fear,  of  agony,  of  desolated  homes, 
have  passed  since  yoiu'  statesmen  declared  that  a 
few  monlh;^  Avould  bring  the  Rebellion  to  an  end. 
In  justice  to  our  people,  put  the  question  to  your- 
selves, —  if  at  the  outset  the  veil  which  hid  the 
future  could  have  been  withdrawn,  and  the  conflict 
which  really  awaited  you,  with  all  its  vicissitudes, 
its  disasters,  its  dangers,  its  sacrifices,  could  have 
l)eon  revealed  to  your  view,  would  you  have  gone 
into  llie  war  ?  To  us,  looking  with  anxious,  but 
less  impassioned  e3'es,  the  veil  was  half  withdraAvn, 
and  we  shrank  back  from  the  prospect  which  was 
revealed.  It  Avas  well  for  the  world,  perhaps,  that 
you  were  blind  ;  but  it  was  pardonable  in  us  to 
sec. 

We  now  come  to  the  working-men  of  England, 
the  main  body  of  our  people,  whose  sympathy  you 
Avould  not  the  less  prize,  and  whom  you  would  not 
the  less  shrink  from  assailing  without  a  cause,  be- 
cause at  present  the  greater  part  of  them  are  with- 
out political  power,  —  at  least  of  a  direct  kind.  I 
will  not  speak  of  the  opinions  of  our  peasantry,  for 
they  have  none.    Their  thoughts  are  never  turned 


30 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


to  a  political  question.  Thoy  never  read  a  ncwa- 
pnper.  Thcv  are  al)sorl>e(l  in  (he  struggle  ibr  daily 
bread,  of  which  ihcv  have  barely  enough  for  them- 
selves  and  their  children.  Tiieir  condition,  in  spite 
ol'  all  the  benevolent  eflbrt  that  is  aln'oad  among 
us,  is  the  great  blot  of  our  social  system.  Perhaps, 
if  the  relation  between  the  two  countries  remains 
kindly,  the  door  of  ho])e  may  be  opened  to  them 
here  ;  and  hands  now  folded  helplessly  in  English 
2)0or-houses  may  joyfully  reaj)  the  harvests  of  Iowa 
and  Wisconsin.  Assui'edly,  they  bear  you  no  ill- 
will.  If  they  could  comprehend  the  meaning  of  this 
struggle,  their  hearts  as  well  as  their  interests  would 
be  upon  your  side.  \\\\\  it  is  not  in  them,  it  is  in 
the  working-men  of  our  cities,  that  the  intelliucence 
of  the  class  resides.  And  the  sympathy  of  the  work- 
ing-men of  our  cities,  I'rom  the  mouu'nt  when  the 
great  issue  between  Free  Labor  and  Slavery  was 
fairly  set  before  them,  has  ])een  shown  in  no  doubt- 
ful form.  Thev  have  Ibllowed  your  waverinu-  for- 
tunes  with  eyes  almost  as  keen  and  hearts  almost 
as  anxious  as  your  own.  They  have  thronged  the 
meetings  held  by  the  Union  and  Emancipation 
Societies  of  London  and  Manchester  to  protest  be- 
fore the  nation  in  liivor  of  your  cause.  Early  in 
the  contest  thev  (illeil  to  overllowinu'  Exeter  Ilall, 
the  largest  place  of  meeting  in  London.  I  was  pres- 
ent at  another  immense  meeting  of  them,  held  by 
their  Trades  Unions  in  London.  AvLvvf^  tliey  were 
addressed  by  Mr.  Bright  ;  and  had  you  witnessed 
the  intelligence  and  enthusiasm  with  which  they 
followed  the  exposition  of  your  case  by  their  great 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


31 


orator,  you  would  have  known  that  you  •were  not 
Avitlioiit  sympathy  in  Enjiland,  —  jiot  without  sym- 
pathy such  as  those  who  h)ok  rather  to  the  worth 
ol"  a  IViend  than  to  his  rank  may  most  dearly  prize. 
Again  I  was  present  at  a  great  meeting  called  in 
the  Free-Trade  Hall  at  Manchester  to  protest  against 
the  attacks  upon  your  connnerce,  and  saw  the  same 
enthusiasm  displayed  hy  the  working-men  of  the 
North.  But  Mr.  Ward  Beecher  must  have  hrought 
hack  witli  him  abundant  assurance  of  the  feelings  of 
oiu'  working-men.  Our  opponents  have  tried  to  rival 
us  in  these  demonstrations.  They  have  tried  with 
great  resources  of  personal  iniluence  and  wealth. 
But,  in  spite  of  their  personal  influence  and  the 
distress  caused  by  the  cotton  famines,  they  have  on 
the  whole  signally  failed.  Their  consolation  has  been 
to  call  the  friends  of  the  Federal  cause  obscurities 
and  nobodies.  And  true  it  is  that  the  friends  of  the 
Federal  cause  are  obscurities  and  nobodies.  They 
are  the  untitled  and  undistinguished  mass  of  the 
English  people. 

The  leaders  of  our  working-men,  the  popidar  chiefs 
of  the  day,  the  men  who  represent  the  feelings  and 
interests  of  the  masses,  and  wliosc  names  are  re- 
ceived with  ringing  cheers  wherever  the  masses  are 
assembled,  are  Cobden  and  Bright.  And  Cobden 
and  Blight  have  not  left  you  in  doubt  of  the  fact 
that  they  and  all  they  represent  arc  on  your  side. 

I  need  not  say,  —  for  you  have  shown  that  you 
know  it  well,  —  that,  as  regards  the  working-men 
oCour  cotton-factories,  this  sympathy  was  an  oflering 
to  your  cause  as  costly  as  it  was  sincere.     Your  civil 


32 


ENr.LANl)  AND  AMICRICA. 


WAY  pnrnly/o(l  tlicir  indiislry.  l)r()iiji:lit  rnin  into  thoir 
houses.  (l(.'[)rive(l  tliciii  and  their  ramihos  not  only 
of  hreatl.  hut.  so  far  as  their  vision  extended,  of  the 
hojx'  of  bread.  Yet  lliey  liave  not  wavered  in  their 
aHeuianee  to  the  lliu^lit.  Your  shive-ownini.^  aristoc- 
racy  had  made  ui»  their  minds  that  chivah'V  was 
confnied  to  aristoeraeies.  and  that  over  the  vulgar 
souls  of  the  connuon  people  Cotton  must  be  King. 
The  Avo)king-man  of  Ahmchester,  though  he  lives 
nut  like  a  Southern  gentleman  by  the  sweat  of 
another's  I)row,  Init  like  a  plebeian  by  the  sweat  of 
his  own.  has  shown  that  chivalry  is  not  confined  to 
aristocracies,  and  that  even  over  vulgar  souls  Cotton 
is  not  alwavs  King.  1  heard  one  of  vour  statesmen 
the  other  dav,  after  si)eaking  indiunantlv  of  those 
"who  had  htted  out  the  Ahd)ama.  pray  (Jod  to  hless 
the  workiuix-nien  of  Knudand.  Our  nation,  like  vours, 
is  not  a  sinule  I'odv  animated  hv  the  same  political 
sentiments,  but  a  mixed  mass  of  contending  interests 
and  parties.  Beware  how  yon  fire  into  that  mass, 
or  your  shot  may  strike  a  fiiend. 

When  Kntiland  in  the  mass  is  spoken  of  as  vour 
enemy  on  this  occasion,  the  London  '•  Times"  is 
taken  Ibi-  the  voice  of  the  country.  The  '"  Times" 
was  in  former  days  a  great  })0[)ular  organ.  It  led 
vehemontlv  and  even  violently  the  struu^u'le  for  Par- 
liamentarv  lieform.  In  that  way  it  made  its  for- 
tune  ;  and  having  made  its  fortune,  it  takes  part 
with  the  rich.  Its  jiroprietor  in  those  days  was  a 
man  witli  many  faiihs,  but  he  was  a  man  of  the 
people.  Aristocratic  society  disliked  and  excluded 
him ;  he  lived  at  war  with  it  to  the  end.    Affronted 


I 


])0> 

on 
woi 
but 
'1 

cis 
liie 


N 


tec 

coi 

ol 

no 

be( 

a 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


33 


to  thoir 

)t  only 

.  ol'  the 

ill  tlieir 

iiristoc- 

rv   was 

vulirar 

)0  King. 

le   lives 

weat   of 

sweat  of 

lined  to 

s  Cotton 

atesmen 

of  those 

to  bless 

ke  yours, 

political 

interests 

lat  mass, 

f  as  your 
imes"  is 
'•Times" 
I.  It  led 
for  Par- 
2  its  for- 
kes  part 
ys  was  a 
n  of  the 
excluded 
Affronted 


^ 


I 


liv  the  AVhigs.  he  hocanie  in  a  certain  sense  a  Tory  ' 
l)iit  he  united  his  Toryism  with  Chartism,  and  wa., 
sent  to  Parli;iinent  lor  Nolliui-ham  bv  Tories  and 
Clitii'tists  comhined.  The  opposition  of  his  jour- 
nal to  our  New  Poor-Law  evinced,  though  in  a  per- 
verse way,  his  feeling  for  the  people.  But  his  heir, 
the  present  proprietor,  was  born  in  the  purple.  He 
is  a  wealthy  landed  gentleman.  He  sits  in  Parlia- 
ment for  a  constituency  of  landlords.  lie  is  thought 
to  have  been  marked  out  (or  a  peerage.  It  is  ac- 
cusing him  of  no  crime  to  suppose,  that,  so  far  as 
he  controls  the  "  Times,"  it  takes  the  bias  of  his 
class,  and  that  its  voice,  if  it  speaks  his  sentiments, 
is  not  that  of  the  English  people,  but  of  a  rich  con- 
servative squire. 

The  editor  is  distinct  from  the  proprietor,  but  his 
connections  are  perhaps  still  more  aristocratic.  A 
irood  deal  has  been  said  anionii:  lis  of  late  about  his 
])osition.  Before  his  time  our  journalism  was  not 
only  anonymous,  but  impersonal.  The  journalist 
wore  the  mask  not  only  to  those  whom  he  criticized, 
hut  to  all  the  world.  The  present  editor  of  the 
"Times"  wears  the  mask  to  the  objects  of  his  criti- 
cism, l)ut  drops  it,  as  has  ))cen  remarked  in  PaiTia- 
Jiu'ut,  in  '•  the  gilded  saloons"  of  rank  and  power. 
Not  content  to  remain  in  the  privacy  which  pro- 
tected the  independence  of  his  predecessors,  he  has 
come  forth  in  his  own  person  to  receive  the  homage 
of  the  great  world.  That  homage  has  been  paid  in 
no  stinted  measure,  and,  as  the  British  public  has 
Itc'cu  a])prised  in  rather  a  startling  manner,  with 
a  somewhat  intoxicating  effect.     The   lords   of  the 


u 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


Money  Power,  tlie  Ihroiies  niid  (lomlnions  of  Usury, 
have  sli(»\vn  tlicnischcs  ;is  iissidiious  ns  inlnistors  miuI 
peers;  and  tlicsc  jjoteiitates  liii]i|)i'n,  like  llie  arls- 
tocracv,  to  hv  nnlViendlv  to  vour  cause.  Caressed  hy 
peers  and  milliommires.  the  editor  of  the  "Times" 
eonld  hardly  fail  to  express  the  feelings  of  peers  and 
millioiniaires  towards  a  Rejtuldie  in  distress.  We 
may  be  permitted  to  thiidv  that  he  has  rather  over- 
acted his  part.  English  ])eers,  after  all,  arc  Pjiglish 
gentlemen  ;  und  no  English  gentleman  ■woidd  de- 
liheratelv  sanction  the  torrent  of  calmnny  and  insult 
■^vhich  the  "  Times"  has  ])om'c(l  upon  this  nation. 
There  arc  penalties  for  conuiiou  olR-nders :  there  arc 
none  for  those  who  scatter  Iire1)rands  amonij;  nations, 
liut  the  "•  Times''  will  not  come  olf  unscathed.  It 
must  veer  with  victory.  And  its  readers  will  he 
not  only  prejudiced,  but  idio'ic,  if  it  does  not  in 
the  process  leave  the  last  remuani  of  its  authority 
behiiul. 

Two  things  will  suflice  to  mark  the  real  ]iolitical 
position  of  the  "Times."  You  saw  that  a  personal 
controversy  was  going  on  the  other  day  between 
its  editor  and  Mr.  Colxlen.  That  controversy  arose 
ont  of  a  speech  made  by  Mr.  Ihight,  oldiquely  im- 
pugning the  aristocratic  law  of  inheritance,  which 
is  last  accumulatiu!>'  the  land  of  Knuland  in  a  few 
liands,  and  disinheriting  the  English  people  of  the 
Enirlish  soil.  For  this  olfence  Mr.  Jiriii'lit  was  as- 
sailed  by  the  "  Times"  with  cahunnies  so  outrajxeous 
that  Mr.  Cobden  could  not  help  springing  forward 
to  vindicate  his  friend.  The  institution  \vhich  the 
"  Timch"  so  iicrccly  defended  on  this  occasion  against 


ENGLAND  AND  AI^IERICA. 


Usury, 

(M-S  JMul 

ic    Jii'is- 
ssod  l)v 
I  linos 
'crs  and 
Wo 
T  ovor- 
'-nulisli 
nil(]    (lo- 
(1  insult 
nation. 
1010  arc 
nations, 
hod.     It 
will    bo 
not    ill 
utliority 

political 
personal 
jotweon 
<y  arose 
loly  iiii- 
.  wliioli 
1  a  low 
of  the 
was  as- 
i'a«i;oons 
forward 
idi  the 
against 


a  look  wliirh  tliroatoncd  it  with  alteration  is  vital 
and  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  aristocracy,  but  is  not 
Altai  or  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  English 
nation.  Again,  the  "Times"  hates  (Jaiibaldi  ;  jind 
its  hatred,  generally  half  smothered,  broke  out  in 
a  loud  cry  of  exultation  when  the  hero  fell,  as  it 
h()|)od  forever,  at  Aspromonto.  IJut  the  Knglish  peo- 
ple idolize  CJjiribaldi,  and  receive  him  with  a  burst 
of  enthusiasm  unexampled  in  fervor.  The  English 
])oople  love  Garibaldi,  and  (Jariljaldi's  name  is  e(|U{il- 
ly  dear  to  all  American  hearts.  Is  not  this  —  let  me 
ask  in  passing  —  a  proof  that  there  is  a  ])ond  of 
sympathy,  after  all,  between  the  English  peojde  and 
you,  and  that,  if  as  a  nation  we  are  divided  from 
you,  it  is  not  by  a  radical  estrangement,  but  by 
some  cloud  of  error  which  will  in  time  pass  away? 

The  wealth  of  the  ''  Times,"  the  high  position 
which  it  has  held  since  the  period  when  it  was  the 
great  Liberal  journal,  the  clever  writing  and  the 
early  intelligence  which  its  money  and  its  secret 
connections  with  pul)lic  men  enable  it  to  command, 
gi\e  it  a  circulation  and  an  inlluonce  beyond  the 
class  whoso  interests  it  represents.  But  it  has  been 
thrust  from  a  large  part  of  its  dominion  by  the  cheap 
London  and  local  press.  It  is  exc ceded  in  circula- 
tion more  than  twofold  by  the  London  '•  Telegraph," 
a  journal  which,  though  it  has  been  against  the  war, 
has,  I  think,  by  no  means  shown  in  its  leading  arti- 
cles the  same  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  American 
people.  The  London  "  Star,"  which  is  strongly 
Federal,  is  also  a  journal  of  wide  circulation.  The 
'•Daily  News"   is  a   high-priced   paper,   circulating 


ENCiLANlJ  A.NU  AMKUIC'A. 


^ 


ainoM,!^'  tlio  sjiiiio  cltiss  sis  llir  '• 'I'iiii(>s" ;  its  riroiila- 
lioii  is  comiuiralivcl.v  siimll.  lull  it  is  on  the  iiicivaso, 
ami  the  journal,  I  have  reason  to  hc'licvo,  is  jji-ospor- 
OUH.    'riu'  Manclioslrr  -  lAanrnuT  and  Tinu's,"  a<iain, 

a  urt>at   htcal   jiapiT  ol'  tlic   North  of  KnLi'hmd. — 

iiearh-  iM|uais  the  London  "'rinu's"  in  circnhition, 
and  i>  i'avtnahic  to  vour  cause.  I  live  un(k'r  the 
dominion  ol  the  London  "'rimes."  and  1  will  not 
den\-  tiial  it  is  a  i;ieat  power  ol'  evil.  It  will  bo 
a  griMt  iiower  ol"  evil  indeed,  if  it  succeeds  in  pro- 
duciii;;'  a  latal  estranuiMnent  helween  two  kindred 
nations,  liut  no  one  who  knows  KiiLiland,  especially 
liie  northern  part  of  Lnuland.  in  which  liiheralisni 
l-)rovails,  would  imagine  the  voice  ol'  the  "Times" 
to  be  that   of  the   Kn^L-Tish  ])eople. 

Of  the  i)art  taken  by  the  writers  of  EnL;land  it 
would  be  Viish  to  speak  in  ^u'cneral  terms.  Stuart 
Mill  and  Cairns  have  supported  \our  cause  as  heart- 
ily as  C'obden  ami  IJriuht.  I  am  not  aware  tliat  any 
political  or  economical  wiitei'  of  etjual  emim'Uce  has 
taken  the  other  side.  The  leading  I'cviews  and  peri- 
odicals have  exhibited,  as  might  ha\'e  bi'cn  expected, 
very  various  shades  of  opinion  ;  but,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  known  organs  of  violent  Toiyisni,  they 
have  certainly  not  bivathefl  hatred  of  this  nation. 
Jn  those  which  s[)ecially  re[)rest'nt  our  rising  intel- 
lect, the  intellect  which  will  probably  govern  us  ten 
years  hence,  I  should  say  the  [)ieponderance  of  the 
Avritiug  luul  been  on  the  Federal  side.  In  the  Tni- 
versity  of  Oxford  the  sympathies  of  the  I  ligh-Chureli 
clergy  and  of  tlie  young  Tory  gentr}  are  with  the 
South;  but  there  is  a  good  deal  of  >»'ortliern  senti- 


EXdLAND  AND  AMKKICA. 


ciroula- 
icrcaso, 
l»ros|)er- 
ii^jiin, 
ilaiid, — 
'Illation, 
ilcr  the 
vill    not 
will  1)0 
ill   pro- 
kind  ivd 
qn'ciallv 
K'lalisni 
Innt's 

Inland  it 
Stuart 
!is  lioart- 
lliat  any 
LMice  has 
ind  poi'i- 
vpi'ctt'd, 

'  C'Xl'Op- 

ni,  tlicy 

nation, 

g  intcl- 

I  us  ton 
•■  of  the 
lie  I'ni- 
Clnn'cli 
itli  tho 

II  sonti- 


niont  anion^j;  tho  yonnu;  rolh)\vH  of  our  moro  lihoral 
coUcgos,  and  ^-onoraily  in  the  more  activo  minds. 
At  liK>  rni\(  rsiiy  Dohatinii'  Ciuh,  when  thi'  (pu'stion 
hctwoon.  tlio  ^oi'lli  and  tho  South  wiis  (k'hat<'<l,  the 
vote,  thoiiuh  I  holiovo  in  a  tiiin  houso.  was  in  liivor 
ol"  tho  Xorth.  l"'oiir  I'rol'ossors  arc  nu'uihors  ol'  tii(» 
Viiion  and  Kiujincipation  Society.  And  if  intolU'(;t 
|.rouorally  has  hoon  soiuowhat  coldly  critical,  I  am 
not  sure  that  it  has  dc[)arted  from  its  ti'ue  ruiiction. 
I  iiiii  conscious  myself  thiil  1  may  he  somewhat 
under  the  dominion  of  my  leeliuii's,  that  I  may  he 
even  something  ol'  a  liinatie  in  this  matter,  'I'hero 
jiiay  he  evil  as  well  as  y:oud  in  the  cm  use  which,  as 
the  good  j)reponderates,  claims  and  receives  the  alle- 
iiiance  of  my  heart.  In  that  case,  intellect,  in  point- 
ill''-  out  the  evil,  oidv  does  its  duty. 

One  Kni-lish  writer  has  certainlv  raised  his  voice 
against  you  with  ( haracteristic;  vehemence  and  rude- 
ness. As  ail  historical  painter  and  a  humorist  Car- 
lyle  has  scarcely  an  eipial  :  a  new  intellectual  region 
seemed  to  open  to  me  when  1  I'cad  his  '-French 
JJevolution."  i>ut  his  philosophy,  in  its  essi>ntial 
princii)le.  is  iidse.  lie  teaches  that  the  mass  of 
niaidvind  are  fools,  —  that  the  hero  alone  is  wise. — 
that  the  hero,  therelijre,  is  the  destined  master  of  his 
fellow-men.  and  that  their  only  salvation  lies  in  hlind 
siihmission  to  his  rule,  —  and  this  without  distinction 
of  time  or  circumstance,  in  the  most  advanced  as 
well  as  in  the  most  ])rimitive  ages  of  the  Avoi'ld. 
The  her()-<lespot  can  do  no  'a  long,  lie  is  a  king,  with 
s(>arcelv  even  a  Clod  ahove  him  ;  and  if  the  moral 
law  happens  to  come  into  collision  "with  his  actions, 


38  ENGLAND  AND  AiMERICA. 

SO  much  the  worso  for  the  nionil  law.  On  this  the- 
ory, Ji  Comnioinvealtli  such  as  yours  ou^ii;ht  not  to 
exist;  and  you  must  not  Ijo  sinpi'iscd.  h]  in  a  (it  of 
Fjjk'en,  (he  irreat  cynic  grasps  his  chib  and  knocks 
your  cause  on  the  head,  as  he  thinks,  with  a  single 
Mow.  Jlero  is  the  end  <»!'  an  unsound,  though  brill- 
iant theory,  —  ;i  theory  which  laid  always  latent  in 
it  the  worsliij)  of  force  and  fraud,  and  which  has 
now  displayed  its  tendency  at  once  in  the  portentous 
defence  of  the  rohber-policy  of  Frederic  the  (Jreat 
and  in  the  portentous  defence  of  the  Slave  Power. 
An  opposite  theory  of  hinnan  society  is,  in  fact,  (ind- 
iuLi'  its  confu'uiation  in  these  events, —  that  which 
tells  us  that  we  all  have  need  of  each  other,  and  that 
the  u'oal  towards  which  societv  tu'tuallv  moves  is  not 
an  heroic  despot  isui.  but  a  real  cominunity,  in  which 
each  nuMuber  siiidl  contribute  his  gifts  and  faculties 
to  the  coiunion  store,  aud  the  conunon  government 
shall  bi'couie  the  work  of  all.  For,  if  the  victory  in 
this  struggle  has  been  won,  it  has  been  won,  not  by 
a  man.  I)ut  by  the  nation  ;  and  that  it  has  been  won 
not  bv  a  man.  but  b\  the  nation,  is  voin*  si'lory  and 
the  pledge  of  your  salvation.  AVe  have  called  for  a 
Cromwell,  and  he  has  not  couie  ;  he  has  not  come, 
partly  Ijecause  Cromwells  are  scarce,  l)artly,  perii;i|j.,;, 
because  the  personal  Cromwell  belonged  to  a  diller- 
ent  age,  and  the  Cromwell  of  this  age  is  an  intelli- 
gent, resolute,  anrl  tmited  peo|)le. 

I  might  mention  other  eccentricities  of  opinion 
qtiite  distinct  from  the  gtsneral  temper  of  the  Fng- 
\\>\i  nation,  such  as  that  of  the  idtra-scientiiic  school, 
"which  thinks  it  unscientific  philanthropy  to  ascribe 


re; 


--  I 


EXCJLAND  AND  AI\IERTCA. 


39 


his  thc- 
iiot  to 
:i  (it  of 
knocks 
I  single 
•h  brill- 
It  en  t  in 
ich  has 
tcntous 
(Jruat 
Power, 
ct,  lind- 
b  which 
nd  that 
s  is  not 
II  which 
acuities 
'innient 
iitovy  in 
not  by 
en  won 
Jiy  and 
.'d  for  a 
t  come, 
)erlui|>,;, 
1  diiler- 
intelli- 

jpinion 
c  Eng- 
school, 
ascribe 


the  attribntos  of  humanity  to  the  negro,' — a  school 
some  of  the  more  rani])!nit  al)surdities  of  which  had, 
just  beibre  J  left  England,  Cidled  down  the  rebuke  of 
real  science  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Huxley.  And  I 
might  note,  if  the  time  uould  allow,  many  (luctua- 
tions  and  oscillations  Avhich  have  taken  place  among 
our  organs  of  opinion  as  the  struggle  ^vent  on.  But 
1  must  s.iy  on  the  -whole,  both  with  ret'ei'ence  to  our 
different  classes  and  with  reference  to  onr  literature, 
that,  considering  the  complexity  of  the  case,  the 
distance  from  Avhicli  onr  people  viewed  it,  and  the 
changes  which  it  has  undergone  shice  the  war  broke 
out,  I  do  not  think  there  is  much  room  for  disiii)point- 
ment  as  to  the  sympathies  of  onr  people.  Parties 
have  been  divided  on  this  question  much  as  they  are 
on  great  (piestions  among  ourselves,  and  much  as 
the}^  were  in  the  time  of  Charles  1.,  when  this  long 
strife  beiran.  The  England  of  Charles  and  Laud  has 
been  against  you :  the  Eugland  of  Hampden,  Milton, 
and  Cromwell  has  in  the  main  ])een  on  your  side. 

1  sa}'  there  has  not  been  much  ground  for  disap- 
pointment :  J  do  not  say  there  has  been  none.  Eng- 
land at  present  is  not  in  her  nol)lest  mood.  She  is 
laboring  under  a  reaction  which  extends  over  France 
and  great  part  of  Europe,  and  which  iurnishes  the 
key  at  this  nioment  to  the  state  of  European  afiairs. 
This  movement,  like  all  great  movements,  reaction- 
nry  or  progressive,  is  complex  in  its  nature.  In  the 
])olitical  sphere  it  presents  itself  as  the  lassitude  and 
despondency  whicli.  as  usual,  iiave  eusued  after  great 
political  ellbrts,  such  as  were  made  by  the  Continen- 
tal nations  in  the  al)ortivc  revolutions  of  1848,  and 


40 


KN(U.AND  AND  AAIKHICA. 


hy  EiigliUifl  in  a  loss  dcgreo  in  llio  strng-g-le  for  Par- 
lianieiit.'iiy  Ixclbnu.  In  the  ivligioiis  sphero  it  pi'o- 
sonts  itself  in  an  nnalugous  sliape  :  tliiMV,  lassitude 
and  despondeiU'V  have  succeeded  to  the  elfoi'ts  of  the 
religious  intellect  to  esca})e  lioni  tiie  decaying  creeds 
oftlie  old  Stat(>  Churches  and  push  ibrward  to  a  more 
enduring  faith;  and  the  ])riest  as  well  as  the  despot 
has  lor  a  monient  resuuu'd  his  sway  —  though  not 
his  nncontested  sway — over  our  weariness  and  our 
fears.  The  moral  sentiment,  alter  high  tension,  has 
nndergone  a  corresponding  relaxation.  All  liberal 
measiu'es  ai'e  for  the  time  at  a  discount.  The  Bill 
for  the  Abolition  of  ('hurch-Hates,  once  carried  in 
the  House  of  Connnons  l)y  large  majorities,  is  now 
lost.  The  nominal  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party  them- 
selves have  let  their  princi])les  fall  into  abeyance,  and 
almost  coalesced  with  their  Tory  op]K)nents.  The 
AVhiLi:  nobles  Avho  carried  the  Heform  iVdl  have  owned 
once  more  the  bias  ol'  their  order,  and  become  deter- 
mined, though  eo\(Mt.  enemies  of  IJeform.  The  an- 
cient altars  are  sought  again  lor  th(^  sake  of  peace 
l)y  fainting  spirits  and  per])lexe(l  uiiuds  :  and  again, 
as  after  our  Heformation.  as  after  oiu'  u'reat  Revoln- 
tion.  we  see  a  niunl»cr  of  conversions  to  the  Church 
of  Home,  (hi  the  other  hand,  stramrc  i)hvsical  su- 
pei'stiiious.  such  as  mesmerism  and  spirit-rap[)ing, 
havt'  ci'i'pt.  like  astrology  un<  the  Koman  Emj)ire, 
into  the  void  Icfl  by  religiou>  faith.  Wealth  has 
been  ])om'iiiu'  into  Kic^land.  and  lu\ur\-  with  wealth. 
Otu"  ])ul)lic  journals  proclaim,  as  yon  may  perhaps 
have  seen,  that  the  society  of  oiU"  caj)ital  is  unusually 
corrupt.     Th(^  comic  as  well   as  the  serious  signs  of 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


41 


for  Par- 
L'  it  }) re- 
lassitude 
(s  of  the 
g  creedtj 
>  a  more 
e  despot 
ugh  not 
and  our 
sion.  has 
II   liberal 
The  Bill 
irried    in 
>.  is  now 
ty  them- 
mce,  and 
ts.     The 
>'e  owned 
lie  deter- 
Tlie  an- 
ol'  peace 
»d  again, 
Kevolu- 
)  Clnu'ch 
rsical  su- 
-rap[)ing, 
Empire, 
alth   has 
I  wealth. 
perha})s 
nusually 
signy  of 


the  reaction  appear  everywhere.  A  tone  of  aifectcd 
cynicism  pervades  a  portion  of  our  high  intellect; 
and  a  pretended  passion  for  prize-lighting  shows  that 
men  of  culture  are  weary  of  civilization,  and  wish  to 
go  back  to  barbarism  for  a  while.  The  present  head  ^-p 
of  the  Government  in  England  is  not  only  the  con- 
fedei-ate,  but  the  counterpart,  of  the  head  of  the 
French  Empire ;  and  the  rule  of  each  denotes  the 
temporary  ascendancy  of  the  same  class  of  motives 
in  their  respective  nations.  An  English  Liberal  is 
tempted  to  despond,  when  he  compares  the  puljlic 
life  of  England  in  the  time  of  Pym  and  Hampden 
with  onr  puldic  life  now.  But  there  is  greatness 
still  in  the  heart  of  the  English  nation. 

And  you,  too,  have  you  not  known  in  the  course 
of  30ur  history  a  slack-tide  of  faith,  a  less  aspiring 
hour  ?  Have  not  you,  too,  knoAvn  a  temporary  as- 
cendancy of  material  over  spiritual  interests,  a  low- 
erinur  of  the  moral  tone,  a  readiness,  for  the  sake  of 
ease  and  peace  and  secure  enjoyment,  to  compro- 
mise with  evil  ?  Have  not  yon,  too,  felt  the  tyranny 
of  wealth,  putthig  the  higher  motives  for  a  moment 
under  its  feet  ?  What  else  has  brought  these  calam- 
ities npon  you?  What  else  bowed  your  necks  to 
the  ^oke  which  you  are  now  breaking  at  so  great  a 
cost  ?  Often  and  long  in  the  life  of  every  nation, 
though  the  tide  is  still  advancing,  the  wave  recedes. 
Often  and  long  the  fears  of  man  overcome  his  hopes; 
l)ut  in  the  end  the  hopes  of  man  overcome  his  fears. 
Vour  rceneration,  when  it  is  acdiieved,  Avill  set  for- 
ward  t)'.'  regeneration  of  the  European  nations.  It 
is  the  function  which  all  nations,  which  all  men,  in 

6 


i---^ 


42 


ENGLAND  AND   AMERICA. 


their  •svavcriiijj;  progress  towards  perfection,  perform 
in  turn  for  each  other. 

This  teinporarv  lowerinLi;  of  the  moral  tone  in 
Knghsh  society  has  extended  to  the  question  of 
Slavery.  It  has  deadened  our  feehngs  on  that  sub- 
ject, thongli  I  hope  without  shaking  onr  principles. 
You  ask  whether  England  can  have  been  sincere  in 
her  enniitv  to  Slaverv.  when  she  refuses  sympathy 
to  yon  in  vour  struu-gie  with  the  Slave  Power.  Tal- 
leyrand.  cynic  as  he  was.  knew  that  she  was  sincere, 
thouu'h  he  said  that  not  a  man  in  France  thontrht 
so  but  himsidf  She  redeemed  her  own  slaves  with 
a  great  jirice.  Siie  sacrificed  her  West-Indian  in- 
terest. She  counts  that  achievement  higher  than 
her  victories.  Slie  si)ends  annuallv  much  monev 
and  many  lives  and  risks  much  enmity  in  her  cru- 
sade auainst  the  shive-trade.  When  vour  Southern 
statesmen  have  tried  to  tamper  with  her.  they  have 
found  her  true.  If  they  had  bid  us  choosu  between 
a  concession  to  thoir  (h'siu-ns  and  Avar,  all  aristocratic 
as  we  ai'c.  we  should  have  chosen  war.  Every  Eng- 
lishman who  takes  the  S(.)uthcrn  side  is  compelled 
by  public  opinion  to  preface  his  advocacy  with  a 
disclaimer  of  all  svm))ath\'  with  Slaverv.  Tiie  auent 
of  the  slave-owners  in  England.  Mr.  Spence.  pleads 
their  cause  to  the  English  j)eo[)le  on  the  grounil  of 
gradual  emancipation.  Once  the  "Times"  ventured 
to  speak  in  defeiice  of  Shu  ei-y.  and  the  attem^jt  was 
never  made  again.  The  principle.  1  say.  holds  lirm 
among  the  mass  of  the  peoj)le  ;  but  on  this,  as  on 
other  moral  (piestions,  we  are  not  in  our  noblest 
mood. 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


43 


perform 

tone  in 
}stion  of 
that  sub- 
rinciples. 
incere  in 
ynipathy 
er.  Tal- 
s  sincere, 

thought 
ives  Avith 
11(11  an  in- 
her  than 
h   nionev 

4/ 

her  cru- 
Southern 
hey  have 

between 

istocratic 
•ery  Knix- 
lonipelled 
uith  a 
.'he  agent 
;e,  pleads 
ground  of 

ventured 
oui})t  was 
lolds  firm 
his.  as  uii 
ir  noblest 


In  justice  to  my  country,  however,  let  me  remind 
you  that  you  did  not  —  perhaps  you  could  not  —  set 
the  issue  between  Freedom  and  Slavery  plainly  be- 
fore us  at  the  outset ;  you  did  not  —  perhaps  you 
could  not  —  set  it  plainly  before  yourselves.  With 
the  progress  of  the  struggle  your  convictions  have 
been  strengthened,  and  the  fetters  of  legal  restriction 
liave  been  smitten  off  by  the  hammer  of  war.  But 
}our  rulers  began  with  disclaimers  of  Anti-Slavery 
designs.  You  cannot  be  surprised,  if  our  people 
took  your  rulers  at  their  word,  or  if,  notwithstand- 
ing your  change,  —  a  change  which  they  imagined 
to  ])e  wrought  merely  by  expediency,  —  they  re- 
tained their  first  impression  as  to  the  object  of  the 
war,  an  impression  which  the  advocates  of  the  South 
used  every  art  to  perpetuate  in  their  minds.  That 
tlie  opponents  of  Slavery  in  England  should  desire 
the  restoration  of  the  Union  with  Slavery,  and  with 
Slavery  strengthened,  as  they  expected  it  would  be, 
])v  new  concessions,  was  what  vou  could  not  reason- 
nlily  expect.  And  remember — 1  say  it  not  with 
any  desire  to  trench  on  American  politics  or  to  pass 
judgment  on  American  parties  —  that  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Union  with  Slavery  is  what  a  large 
section  of  your  people,  and  one  of  the  candidates 
lijr  your  Presidency,  are  in  fact  ready  to  embrace 
now. 

Had  you  been  able  to  say  plainly  at  the  outset 
tliat  vou  were  fiLrhtinir  acrainst  Slaverv,  the  English 
jx'ople  would  scarcely  have  given  ear  to  the  cunning 
lie  lion  of  Mr.  Spence.  It  would  scarcely  have  been 
brought  to  believe  that  this  great  contest  was  only 


44 


ENGL  AM)   AND   A^IERICA. 


about  a  Tariff  It  -would  liave  seen  that  the  Southern 
planter,  it  he  was  a  Free-Trader.  Avas  a  Free-Trader 
not  IVoui  euliiihtcnuient,  but  beeause  iVom  the  dejj:- 

~  CD 

radation  of  lahor  in  his  dominions  lie  liad  no  man- 
ufactures to  support  ;  and  that  he  Avas  in  fact  a 
jirotectionist  of  his  only  home  production  'which 
feared  competition.  —  the  home-bred  slave.  I  have 
heard  Mr.  Spence's  book  called  the  most  successful 
lie  in  historv.  Xcvy  successful  it  certainly  >vas,  and 
its  intluence  in  mi>leading  En^u:land  oug'ht  not  to  be 
overlooked.  It  was  written  with  great  skill,  and  it 
came  out  just  at  the  right  time,  before  people  had 
formed  their  opinions,  and  when  they  "were  glad  to 
have  a  theory  presented  to  their  minds.  IJut  its 
success  would  have  been  short-lived,  had  it  not  re- 
ceived what  seemed  authoritative  confirmation  from 
the  lauLmaure  of  statesmen  here. 

I  niiirht  mention  many  other  tbiusxs  which  have 
influenced  o])inion  in  the  wrong  way:  the  admiration 
felt  by  our  people,  and,  to  your  honor,  equally  felt 
by  you,  for  the  valor  and  self-devotion  which  have 
been  shown  by  the  h-outherners,  and  which,  Avhen 
they  have  su])mitted  to  the  law,  will  entitle  them 
to  he  the  fellow-citizens  of  freemen  ;  a  careless,  but 
not  ungenerous,  sympathy  for  that  which,  by  men 
ignorant  of  the  tremendous  strength  of  a  ►*^lave 
Power,  was  taken  to  be  the  weaker  side  ;  the  doubt 
really,  and  considering  the  conliict  of  o})inioii  here, 
not  unpardonably,  entertained  as  to  the  question  of 
State  Sovereignty  and  the  right  of  Secession.  All 
these  motives,  though  they  operate  against  your 
cause,  are  dilfcrent  from  hatred  of  you.    But  there 


■"'outhcrn 

c-Trndcr 

the  (lo£^- 

no  inan- 

n  fact  a 

11   ^vllich 

I  have 

iicccssful 

Avas,  and 

lot  to  be 

ill,  and  it 

eople  had 

c  t,dad  to 

But  its 

it  not  rc- 

itioii  from 

liich  have 
idiniration 
qiially  lolt 
hich  have 
[ich,  "svhon 
title  them 
reless,  but 
1,  bv  men 
f  a  Slave 
the  doubt 
niou  here, 
[uei^tion  of 
■ision.  All 
iiinst  your 
But  there 


ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA. 


45 


arc  two  points  to  which  in  justice  to  my  country  I 
must  especially  call   attention. 

The  (irst  is  this,  —  that  you  have  not  yourselves 
been  of  one  mind  in  this  matter,  nor  has  the  voice 
of  30ur  own  people  been  unanimous.  No  English 
speaker  or  journal  has  denounced  the  war  or  reviled 
the  conduct  of  your  Government  more  bitterly  than 
a  portion  of  American  politicians  and  a  section  of 
the  American  press.  The  worst  things  said  in  Eng- 
land of  your  statesmen,  of  your  generals,  of  your 
armies,  of  your  contractors,  of  your  social  state  and 
character  as  a  people,  have  been  but  the  echo  of 
things  which  have  been  said  here.  If  the  New- York 
correspondents  of  some  English  journals  have  l)een 
virulent  and  calumnious,  their  vii'ulence  and  their 
calumnies  have  been  drawn,  to  a  sj-reat  extent,  from 
the  American  circles  in  which  they  have  lived.  No 
slanders  poured  by  English  ignorance  or  malevolence 
on  American  society  have  been  so  foul  as  those 
which  came  from  a  renesj-ade  American  writing  in 
one  of  our  Tory  journals  under  the  name  of''  Man- 
hattan." No  lamentations  over  the  subversion  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  destruction  of  personal  liberty 
have  been  louder  than  those  of  your  own  Opposition. 
The  chief  enemies  of  your  honor  have  been  those  of 
your  own  household.  The  crime  of  a  great  mass 
of  our  people  against  you  has,  in  fact,  consisted  in 
believinijr  statements  about  America  made  by  men 
whom  they  knew  to  be  Americans,  and  did  not  know 
to  be  disloyal  to  the  cause  of  their  country.  1  have 
seen  your  soldiers  described  in  an  extract  from  one 
of  your  own  journals  as  jail-birds,  vagabonds,  and 


46 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


foreigners.  I  have  seen  yonr  President  aconsed  of 
Avisliin'j:  to  provoke  riots  in  New  York  that  he  might 
have  a  pretence  lor  exercising  military  power.  I 
have  seen  him  accnsed  of  sending  to  the  frt)nt,  to  bo 
thinned,  a  regiment  which  Avas  likely  to  vote  against 
him.  1  have  seen  him  accused  of  decoying  his  polit- 
ical opponents  into  forging  soldiers'  votes  in  order  to 
discredit  them.  What  could  the  '•  Times  "  itself  say 
more? 

'I'he  second  point  is  this,  f^ome  of  your  jonrnals 
did  their  best  to  prevent  our  people  from  desiring 
vonr  success  bv  declaring  that  your  success  would 
be  followed  bv  au'tiression  on  us.  The  drum,  like 
strong  wine,  is  apt  to  get  into  weak  heads,  especially 
when  thev  are  unaccustomed  to  the  sound.  An  Eno-- 
lishman  cominu:  among  \ou  is  soon  jissured  that  voii 
do  not  V,  ish  to  attack  Canada.  Apart  from  eonsid- 
eiations  of  morality  and  honor,  lie  finds  every  man 
of  sense  here  aware  that  extent  of  territory  is  your 
dan^-er,  if  vou  wish  to  be  o)ie  nation,  —  and  further, 
that  freedom  of  development^  and  not  procrustean 
centralization,  is  the  best  thing  ibr  the  New  as  well 
as  for  the  Old  World.  But  the  mass  of  our  peo- 
jile  have  not  been  aihong  you;  nor  do  they  know 
that  the  hot  words  sedulously  repeated  to  them  by 
our  .Southern  press  are  not  authentic  expressions  of 
your  designs.  They  are  doubly  mistaken,  —  mis- 
taken both  in  thinking  that  yon  wish  to  seize  Can- 
ada,  and  in  thinking  that  a  division  of  the  Union 
into  two  liosiile  nations,  which  would  compel  you  to 
keep  a  standing  army,  would  render  you  less  dan- 
gerous to  your  neighbors.      But  your   own   dema- 


witl 
ter 

ica, 

its 

tai-y 

com 

and 

Al 

il  h; 

icy 


ENGIiAND  AND  AMKllICA. 


47 


ciiscd  of 
ic  might 
iwcr.  I 
nt,  to  bo 
3  against 
his  poht- 
order  to 
tsclf  say 

journals 

desiring 
ss  would 
ruui,  like 
specially 

An  Eng- 
that  vou 
II  consid- 
^'cry  man 
r  is  your 
.1  further, 
3crustcan 
\v  as  well 

our  peo- 
ley  know 

them  by 
!ssions  of 
n,  —  mis- 
!cize  Can- 
le  Union 
el  yon  to 

less  dan- 
rn   dema- 


gogues are  the  authors  of  the  error ;  and  the  ^^on- 
roe  doctrine  and  the  Ostend  manifesto  are  still  rin<>-- 
ing  in  our  ears.  I  am  an  adherent  of  the  Monroe 
doctrine,  if  it  means,  as  it  did  on  the  lips  of  Can- 
ning, that  the  reactionary  iulhience  of  the  old  Euro- 
pean Covernments  is  not  to  be  allowed  to  mar  the 
hopes  of  man  in  the  New  World  ;  but  if  it  means 
violence,  every  one  must  be  against  it  who  i-espocts 
Ihc  rights  of  nations.  When  you  contrast  the  feel- 
ings of  England  towards  you  witli  those  of  other 
nations,  Italv  for  exinuple,  vou  nuist  remember  that 
Italy  has  no  Canada.  1  hope  Canada  will  soon  cease 
to  be  a  cause  of  mistrust  between  us.  The  political 
dominion  of  England  over  it,  since  it  has  had  a  free 
constitution  of  its  own,  has  dwindled  to  a  mere 
thread.  It  is  as  ripe  to  be  a  nation  as  these  Colo- 
nies were  on  the  eve  of  the  American  lievolution. 
As  a  dependency,  it  is  of  no  solid  value  to  England 
since  she  has  ceased  to  engross  the  Colonial  trade. 
It  distracts  her  forces,  and  prevents  her  from  acting 
v.ith  her  full  weight  in  the  affairs  of  her  own  quar- 
ter of  the  world.  It  belongs  in  every  sense  to  Amer- 
ica,  not  to  Europe;  and  its  peculiar  institutions  — 
its  extended  suflrage,  its  freedom  from  the  heredi- 
tar}^  principle,  its  voluntary  system  in  religion,  its 
connnon  schools  —  are  opposed  to  those  of  England, 
and  identical  with  those  of  the  neighljoring  States. 
All  this  the  English  nation  is  beginning  to  feel  ;  and 
it  has  tried  in  the  case  of  the  Ionian  Islands  the  pol- 
icy of  moderation,  and  found  that  it  raises,  instead  of 
lowering,  our  solid  reputation  and  our  real  power. 
The  confederation  which  is  now  in  course  of  forma- 


48 


ENGLAND   AND  AMKUU'A. 


(i()]i  l)otwof'ii  ilio  Norlli-Ainoricim  f'olonica  tends 
luaiiilrsilv  to  ii  I'liillit'i'  cliiingo  ;  it  tends  to  Ji  rurther 
change  all  ilie  more  nianitestly  beeiuise  ssueh  a  ten- 
denev  is  aiixKnislv  diselaimed.  Yes.  Canada  \viU 
soon  eeii.-i'  to  trouble  and  divide  ns.  IJut  ^vliile  it  is 
England's,  it  is  England's  ;  and  to  threaten  her  with 
an  attack  on  it  is  to  threaten  a  proud  nation  -with 
outi'age  and  an  assault  upon   its  honor. 

Finally,  ii'oui  })eople  have  nusconstrued  your  acts, 
let  me  conjure  you  to  make  due  allowance  for  our  ig- 
norance,—  an  ignorance  which,  in  many  cases,  is  as 
dark  as  night,  hut  which  the  progress  of  events  here 
heu'ins  gloriouslv  to  disi)el.  We  are  not  such  a  na- 
tion  of  travellers  as  you  are,  and  scarcely  one  Eng- 
lislnnan  has  seen  America  for  a  hundred  Americans 
that  have  seen  EuLiland.  "'Whv  does  not  13eaure- 
gard  lly  to  the  assistance  of  Lee  ?"  said  a  highly 
educated  Englishman  to  an  American  in  England. 
'•'Because,"  was  the  reply,  '•  the  distance  is  as  great  as 
it  is  Ironi  Eome  to  l?ai'is."  If  these  three  thousand 
miles  of  ocean  that  lie  between  us  could  be  removed 
lor  a  few  days,  and  the  two  great  branches  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  could  look  each  other  in  the  face, 
and  speak  their  minds  to  each  other,  there  would  be 
(ui  end.  I  believe,  of  all  these  fears.  When  an  Eng- 
lishman  ^nd  an  American  meet,  in  this  country  or  in 
England,  tiiey  are  friends,  notwithstanding  all  that 
has  passed;  why  not  the  two  nations? 

I  have  not  presumed,  and  shall  not  presume,  to 
touch  on  any  (juestion  that  has  arisen  or  may  arise 
between  the  Executive  Government  of  my  country 
and  the  Executive  Government  of  yours.     In  Eng- 


acc 

liic^i 

tliel 

insj 

in 


ENGLAND   AND  AMKIIICA. 


49 


ms  tends 
;i  rurtlioi" 
u'h  a  ton- 

lliulil  \\\\\ 
Avlille  it  is 
her  ^vith 
ation  "svitli 

vour  acts, 

for  our  ig- 

L'ases,  is  as 

vunts  here 

such  a  iia- 

y  one  Eng- 

Anierieans 

ot  Beaure- 

1  a   liighly 

n  Eni-land. 

5  as  threat  as 

}ii  thousand 

be  removed 

ohes  of  the 

in  the  face, 

re  would  be 

len  an  Eng- 

nnitry  or  in 

inu:  Jdl  that 

presume,  to 
)r  may  arise 
my  country 
rs.     In  Eng- 


land, Lil)erals  liave  not  failed  to  jdead  for  justice  to 
you.  and,  as  wa  thought,  at  the  saiiu'  time,  for  the* 
nuiuteuauce  of  English  honor,  IJiit  1  will  vt'ntm'e 
to  make,  in  conclusion,  one  or  two  brief  remarks  as 
to  the  general  temper  in  which  these  questions  should 
be  viewed. 

Jn  the  first  jdace,  when  great  and  terrible  is- 
sues hang  upon  our  acts,  perhaps  ujxm  our  words, 
let  us  control  our  fancies  and  distinguish  realities 
from  fictions.  There  hanirs  over  every  irrcat  stru^- 
gle,  and  especially  over  every  civil  war,  a  hot  and 
hazy  atmosphere  of  excited  feeling  which  is  too  apt 
to  distort  all  objects  to  the  view.  In  the  French 
devolution,  men  were  suspected  of  being  objects  of 
suspicion,  and  sent  to  the  guillotine  for  that  offence. 
The  same  feverish  and  delirious  fancies  pie  vailed  as 
to  the  conduct  of  other  nations.  All  the  most  nat- 
ural effects  of  a  violent  revolution  —  the  depreciation 
of  the  assignats,  the  disturbance  of  trade,  the  conse- 
(juent  scarcity  of  food  —  were  ascril)ed  by  frantic 
rhetoricians  to  the  }>-uineas  of  Pitt,  wdiose  very  lim- 
ited  amount  of  secret-service  money  w^as  ([uite  inad- 
equate to  the  performance  of  such  wonders.  When 
a  foreign  nation  has  given  offence,  it  is  turned  by 
l)opular  imagination  into  a  fiend,  and  its  fiendish 
inlhience  is  traced  with  appalling  clearness  in  every 
natural  accident  that  occurs,  I  have  heard  England 
accused  of  having  built  the  Chicago  Wigwam,  with 
the  buildinsr  of  which  she  had  as  much  to  do  as  with 
the  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  1  have  heard  it 
insinuated  that  her  policy  was  governed  by  her  share 
in  the   Confederate  Cotton-Loan.     The  Confederate 


60 


i:n(;la\1)  and  amkkica. 


Cotton-Lonn  is.  I  hcllt'vo,  (our  inillioiis  and  a  lialf. 
There  Is  ni)  I']!)"!'.--!!  iu)l)l»'iii!iii  wliosc  rstales  jir(' 
re[)iite(l  to  l)e  woiili  n  hnj^cr  stun.  "  .'-^lic  is  very 
a'reat."  savs  a  Kiciicli  writer.  "  that  odious  Kn«'lau(l." 
Odious  she  uiay  he.  hut  slie  is  n;i'i>at.  —  too  great  to 
Le  hribed  to  baseness  h_v  a  paltry  lee. 

Jn  the  second  |)iaee,  K-t  us  distin<;'uisli  liostile  art.<, 
of  uliieh  an  account  must  of  course  he  deujaii(h'd, 
from  mere  words,  uhieh  great  nations,  secure  of  their 
greatness,  may  al1c)rd  to  let  j>ass.  Your  President 
knows  the  virtue  of  .'^ik'iu'e  ;  hut  sih-nce  is  so  Httlo 
the  system  on  eitiier  siih'  of  tiie  water,  tliat  in  the 
ifeneral  Ihix  of  rhetoric  some  rasli  tiling's  are  sure  to 
be  said.  One  of  our  statesnu'ii.  while  starring  it  in 
the  Provinces,  carelessly  throws  out  the  expression 
tliat  Jt'lV  Davis  has  made  the  South  a  nation  ;  another 
pavs  that  \(>u  are  liLihtinu'  for  Kmpire.  ami  the  South 
for  Independence.  Our  Prime-Minister  is  ^^ometimes 
otfensive  in  his  personal  hearing  towai'ds  you,  —  as, 
to  our  bitter  cost,  hi'  has  often  heen  towards  other 
nations.  On  the  other  hand,  youi"  statesmen  have 
said  hard  things  of  England  ;  and  one  of  your  am- 
bassadors to  a  great  Continental  state  i)ul)lished,  not 
in  his  private,  hut  in  his  ollicial  capacity,  language 
which  made  the  >i'ortliern  party  in  England  lor  a 
moment  hang  their  heads  with  shame.  A  virulence, 
discreditable  to  England,  has  at  times  broken  forth 
m  our  House  of  ("onnnons,  —  as  a  virulence,  not 
creditable  to  this  country,  has  at  times  broken  forth 
in  your  Congress.  JUit  what  h[is  the  House  of  Com- 
mons done  ?  Threatening  motions  were  announced 
in  favor  of  Recognition,  —  in  defence  of  the  Confed- 


(1  n  Imlf. 

iitcs     ill'C 
'   is    vci'V 

ji'i'cut   lo 

stilr  nots, 
oiiiiiiulcd, 
of  tliL'ir 
I'li'sidtMit 
s  so  little 
at  ill  tlio 
c  sure  to 
liii'j"  it  in 
'\])ivssiou 
1  ;  aiiotlicr 
the  South 

SOllK'tillK'S 

voii,  —  as, 
arils  other 
linen  have 

your  aiii- 
lished,  not 
,  language 
land  ibr  a 

virulence, 
oken  forth 
ilenee,  not 
oken  forth 
se  of  Coin- 
announced 
he  Confed- 


ENT.LAND    AND    AMFHTCA. 


51 


orato  rnms.  Thev  were  all  sot  aside  hv  the  rrood 
sense  of  tile  House  and  of  the  nation.  It  ended  lu 
a  solemn  farce. —  in  I  lie  ijucstion  hcing  put  \eiy 
(ininally  to  the  (iovernnient  whether  it  iut(>nded  to 
recognize  the  Confederate  States,  to  which  the  (iov- 
erninent    replied   that  it  did   not. 

And  when  the  uetions  of  our  (iovernnient  are  in 
question,  liiir  allowance  must  he  made  for  the  had 
state  of  International  Law.  The  very  term  itself  is, 
In  fact,  as  matters  at  present  stand,  a  dangerous  fic- 
tion. There  can  he  no  law,  in  a  real  sense,  ^vhero 
there  is  no  law-giver,  no  trihunal,  no  jxjwer  ol' giving 
legal  effect  to  a  sentence,  —  hut  "where  the  party  on 
Avhose  side  the  law  is  held  to  he  must  iifter  all  ho 
lid't  to  do  himself  light  with  the  strong  hand.  And 
one  consec|uence  is  that  governments  are  induced  to 
rest  in  narrow  technicalities,  and  to  he  ruled  hy  for- 
mal precedents,  when  the  question  ought  to  he  de- 
cided on  the  hroadest  <jjrounds  of  ri^ht.  'I'lie  decision 
of  Lord  Stowell,  for  example,  that  it  is  lawful  for  the 
oa])tor  to  hurn  an  enemy's  vessel  at  sea  rather  than 
sulfer  her  to  escape,  though  really  applying  only  to 
a  case  of  special  necessity,  has  heen  sujiposed  to 
cover  a  system  of  hurning  prizes  at  sea,  which  is 
opposed  to  the  policy  and  sentiment  of  all  civilized 
nations,  and  which  Lord  Stowell  never  could  have 
had  in  view.  And  it  must  be  owned  that  this  war, 
unexampled  in  all  respects,  has  been  fruitful  of  novel 
questions  respecting  Ixdligerent  rights,  on  which  a 
Government  meaning  no  evil  might  easily  be  led 
astray.  Among  its  results  we  may  hope  that  this 
revolution  will  give  birth  to  a  better  system  of  Inter- 


52 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


national  Law.  ^Yo^ll(l  thero  were  reason  to  hope 
that  it  nii-iht  load  to  tli(>  (Mvetion  of  sonic  high  tribu- 
nal ofj'iistice  among  nations  to  supersede  A)rever 
the  (headl'iil  and  uncertain  ordeal  of  war  I  [his  the 
Government  ol"  J'-'ngland.  in  any  ease  where  your 
right  was  clear,  really  done  you  a  wrong  ?  IT  it  has, 
I  trust  that  the  Kuglish  nation,  temperately  and 
respectfully  ai)|)r()achcd.  as  a  proud  nation  requires 
to  be.  will  surely  constrain  its  (Jovernmeiit  to  make 
the  reparation  which  ])ecomes  its  honor. 

But  let  il  nt>t  be  Ibrgotten,  that,  in  the  worst  of 
times,  at  the  moment  of  your  lowest  depression, 
Enuland  has  refused  to  recou-nize  the  Confederate 
States,  or  in  anv  wav  to  interfere  in  their  behalf; 
and  that  tbe  steadiness  of  this  refusal  has  driven  the 
Confederate  envoy.  ]\Ir.  Mason,  to  seek  what  he 
deems  a  more  hospitable  shore.  The  inducement 
of  cotton  for  our  idle  looms  and  our  famishing 
people  has  been  a  strong  one  to  oui"  statesmen  as 
well  as  to  our  ])eoj)le.  and  the  Tempti'r  has  been  at 
their  side.  Despot  ism.  like  Slavery,  is  necessarily 
propagandist.  It  cannot  bear  the  contagion,  it  can- 
not bear  the  moral  reljuke.  of  neiuhboriiiiJi:  freedom. 
The  new  French  satra[)y  in  Mexico  needs  some  more 
congenial  and  some  weaker  neighbor  than  the  Tnited 
Kepubli(%  and  we  have  had  more  than  one  intimation 
that  this  need  is  fi/lt. 

Anil  this  suggests  one  closing  word  as  to  our 
blockade  -  running.  Nothing  done  on  our  sid(\  I 
.should  think,  can  have  been  more  (i'ahinu',  as  noth- 
ing  has  been  so  injuiious  to  youi'  success.  For  my- 
pelf,  in  common  with  all  who  think  as  I  do  on  these 


w 

Ol 

th 

Ci 

ti( 

th 

til 


ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA. 


53 


to   hope 

f\\  tribu- 

<"oi'evcr 

Has  the 

MO  your 
irithas, 

tely  and 
requires 
to  make 

Avorst  of 
L'pression, 
ult'derate 
ir  behah'; 
h'iven  the 

Avhat  he 
(hicenient 
llnulsliiiig 
tesmen  as 
IS  beeu  at 
leoessarily 
on,  it  caii- 
l  iVeedom. 
ouie  uiore 
he  United 
intimation 

as  to  our 
lU'  si(h\  I 
r,  as  noth- 
For  n»y- 
o  on  these 


questions,  I  abhor  the  blockade-runners ;  I  heartily 
•wish  that  the  curse  of  ill-gotten  gain  may  rest  on 
every  piece  of  gold  they  make ;  and  never  did  I  feel 
less  proud  of  my  country  than  when,  on  my  Avay 
hither,  I  saw  those  vessels  in  Halifax  sheltered  under 
English  guns.  But  blockade-running  is  the  law  ;  it 
is  the  test,  in  fact,  of  an  efiective  blockade.  And 
Enirlishmen  are  the  blockade-runners,  not  because 
England  as  a  nation  is  your  enemy,  but  because  her 
merchants  are  more  adventurous  and  her  seamen 
more  daring  than  those  of  any  nation  but  your  own. 
You,  1  suspect,  woidd  not  be  the  least  active  of 
blockade-runners,  if  we  were  carrying  on  a  blockade. 
The  nearness  of  our  fortresses  at  Halifax  and  Nassau 
to  your  shores,  Avhich  makes  them  the  haunt  of 
blockade-runners,  is  not  the  result  of  malice,  but  of 
accident,  —  of  most  unhappj'  accident,  as  I  believe. 
We  have  not  planted  them  there  for  this  purpose. 
They  have  come  down  to  us  among  the  general 
inheritance  of  an  age  of  conquest,  when  aggression 
was  thought  to  be  strength  and  glory,  —  when  all 
kings  and  nations  were  alike  rapacious,  —  and  when 
the  prize  reuiaiued  with  us,  not  because  we  were 
below  our  neighbors  in  morality,  l)ut  because  we 
were  more  resolute  in  council  and  mightier  in  arms. 
Our  conquering  hour  was  jours.  You,  too,  were 
then  English  citizens.  You  welcomed  the  arms  of 
Cromwell  to  Jamaica.  Your  hearts  thrilled  at  the 
tidinffs  of  Blenheim  and  Bamillies.  and  exulted  in  the 
thunders  of  Chatham.  You  shared  the  laurels  and 
the  conquests  of  Wolfe.     For  you  and  with  you  we 


54 


ENOr.A^D  AND  AMERICA. 


overtlircAv  Frnnoo  nnd  Spain  upon  this  continent, 
and  made  America  the  land  of  the  Anudo-Saxon  race. 
Ilaiilax  will  share  the  destinies  of  the  North-Amer- 
ican confederation,  —  destinies,  as  I  said  before,  not 
alien  to  yours.  Nassau  is  an  a])pendage  to  our  West 
Indian  possessions.  Those  possessions  are  and  have 
lonix  been,  and  been  known  to  every  rea.soning  Eng- 
lishman to  be.  a  mere  burden  to  us.  But  Ave  have 
])een  bound  in  honor  and  humanity  to  protect  our 
emancipated  slaves  from  a  danger  which  lay  near. 
An  ocean  of  clianu:ed  thoiiLcht  and  feelinu:  has  rolled 
over  the  memory  of  this  nation  within  the  last  three 
years.  You  foi'Lret  that  but  vesterdav  vou  were  the 
Great  Slave  Power. 

You.  till  vesterdav.  were  the  ureat  Slave  Power. 
And  Enirland.  with  all  her  faults  and  sliortcominQ!:s, 
was  the  u'reat  enemv  of  Slavery.  Therefore  the 
slave-owners  who  had  u^aiued  i>ossession  of  vour 
Government  hated  her,  insultcMl  her.  tried  to  end)roil 
you  with  her.  They  represented  her.  and  1  trust 
not  without  truth,  as  restlesslv  conspiriiiL^  ai!:ainst  the 
existence  of  their  irreat  institution.  They  labored, 
not  in  vain,  to  excite  your  jealou-^y  of  her  maritime 
ambition,  when,  in  enforcing  the  right  of  search  and 
.strivimr  to  inu  down  the  slave-trade,  she  was  really 
obeviuij:  her  conscience  and  the  conscience  of  man- 
kind.  They  liore  themselves  towards  her  in  these 
controversies  as  thev  l)ore  themselves  towards  voti, 
—  as  their  character  comjuds  them  to  bear  them- 
selves towards  all  with  wdiom  they  have  to  deal. 
Living   in   their  own    homes   above   law,  they  pro- 


el 


d 
tl 
in 
Avi 

b. 

SUl 

tin 
Aii 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 


nr. 
00 


itinont, 
in  race. 
i-Amer- 
)YC,  not 
\Y  Wci^t 
id  have 
ig  Eng- 
:c  have 
ect  our 
.y  near. 
s  rolled 
St  three 
v'ere  the 

Power. 

comings, 
tore  the 
of  your 
embroil 
[  1  trust 
ahist  the 
labored, 
maritime 
arch  and 
a.s  really 
of  man- 
in  these 
lids  vou, 
'ar  them- 
to  deal, 
they  pro- 


claimed doctrines  of  lawless  aggression  which  alarmed 
and  offended  not  England  alone,  l)ut  every  civilized 
nation.  And  this,  as  I  trust  and  believe,  has  been 
the  main  cau.se  of  the  estrangement  l)et\veen  us,  so 
far  as  it  ha.s  been  an  estranii-ement  between  the 
nations,  not  merely  between  certain  sections  and 
classes.  It  is  a  cause  which  will  henceforth  operate 
no  more.  A  vScandinavian  hero,  as  the  Norse  legend 
tells,  waged  a  terrible  combat  through  a  whole  night 
with  the  dead  body  of  his  brother-in-arms,  animated 
by  a  Demon  ;  but  with  the  morning  the  Demon  tied. 
Other  thoughts  crowd  upon  my  mind,  —  thoughts 
of  wli.  t  the  two  nations  have  been  to  each  other  in 
the  p  '-:  i!;:>ughts  of  wdiat  they  may  yet  be  to  each 
other  1  ^.  -xo  future.  But  these  thouudits  will  rise  in 
Other  minds  as  well  as  in  mine,  if  they  are  not  stilled 
by  the  passion  of  the  hour.  If  there  is  any  question 
to  be  settled  between  us,  let  us  settle  it  without  dis- 
paragement to  the  just  claims  or  the  honor  of  either 
party,  yet,  if  possible,  as  kindred  nations.  For  if  we 
do  not,  our  posterity  will  (Hu-se  us.  A  century  hence, 
the  passions  whicli  caused  the  ([uarrel  will  be  dead, 
the  black  record  of  the  (juarrel  will  survive  and  be 
detested.  Do  what  we  will  now,  we  shall  not  cancel 
the  tie  of  blood,  nor  prevent  it  from  hereafter  assert- 
inu'  its  undvinu:  iiower.  The  Eno'lishmen  of  this  day 
will  not  prevent  those  who  come  after  them  from 
Iteing  proud  of  England's  grandest  achievement,  the 
sum  of  all  her  u()l)lest  victories,  —  the  foundation  of 
this  the  ureat  Connnonwealth  of  the  New  World. 
And  you  will  not  prevent  the  hearts  of  your  chil- 


56  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA. 

dren's  chiklren  from  turning  to  the  birthplace  of 
their  nation,  the  land  of  their  history  and  of  their 
early  greatness,  the  land  ^vhich  holds  the  august 
monuments  of  your  ancient  race,  the  works  of  your 
illustrious  fathers,  and  their  graves. 


"*...• 

;-■•>■ 


""--",,)«' 


(^Iv^dt 


ice  of 
■  their 
iiigust 
f  vour 


